Lyme Science Blog

(Updated: 6/24/19) In the Prevention article, doctors describe how Lyme disease can impact a person’s vocal cords. “Lyme can affect the nerves that are responsible for controlling the muscles in the vocal cords,” says Amesh A. Adalja, MD, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “As a result, someone could technically lose their […]

So, what does it take to be “Lyme literate”? Baker argues that “Lyme disease conforms to the same fundamental rules and principles applicable to other infectious diseases.” But he fails to define what it would take for a board certified infectious disease specialist to be “Lyme literate.” I would assume a “Lyme literate” doctor would be able to

In 2017, a 58-year-old woman from Missouri, who initially presented with generalized weakness, myalgia, nausea, and a rash, was diagnosed with the virus. She had been exposed to ticks one week earlier. She died after 23 days in the hospital. The virus is so new that relatively little is known about it. Symptoms typically include

While the Powassan virus is considered rare, it can be dangerous and is fatal in 10% of the cases. In 2013, a Maine woman died from the disease and as of 2017, 10 residents had been infected. An increase in cases of Powassan is particularly alarming, given that there is no medication to treat this

In the summer of 2013, a young man from Poughkeepsie, NY, died suddenly after suffering from flu-like symptoms for nearly 3 weeks. Initial reports suggested he had died from complications due to the Powassan virus, a rare illness, transmitted by ticks that can be fatal. However, a paper published in the March issue of Cardiovascular Pathologist, 3.

While vacationing in rural Newfoundland, the man developed nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, double vision (diplopia) and impaired coordination (ataxia). He was admitted to a hospital where his symptoms worsened. The man became febrile and experienced slurred and slow speech (dysarthria), weakness, and respiratory distress. “Cerebrospinal fluid analysis showed pleocytosis (159 × 106 total nucleated cells:

To explore the possible association, Žákovská and colleagues from Masaryk University in the Czech Republic conducted a pilot study using an in vitro method. Blood from volunteers was placed on the perimeter of filter paper placed on a Petri dish. Researchers collected 100 nymphal Ixodes ricinus ticks in Ruda, near the Brno Reservoir. These are

The working group, led by Dr. John Aucott of Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Clinical Research Center, released its first report in 2018. The report included multiple suggestions to address the “serious and growing threat of tick-borne diseases.” Authors of the report called on the government to invest more funds in research, prevention and treatment of

In a 2014 interview, Dr. Eugene Shapiro, dismissed patients’ concerns over chronic symptoms associated with Lyme disease And recommended the medical community “figure out ways to reduce healthcare-seeking behaviors” by patients who are ill and told they do not have Lyme disease. Shapiro expressed his concerns after reviewing Yale Medical Center’s patient database and finding

According to Haddad, more than 1,000 individuals consulted 1 of 3 centers in France about presumed Lyme borreliosis. However, the majority (90%) were not diagnosed with Lyme disease. “The most striking result is that approximately 10% of such patients have a final diagnosis of LB [Lyme borreliosis],” writes Haddad. Yet, in one of the studies