Lyme Science Blog

Greenberg’s Letter to the Editor states, “The recently published article by Shapiro et al hoped to be topical in this age of ‘alternative facts’ but fell short, providing mainly biased viewpoints that prevent independent assessment of existing research in chronic Lyme disease. Presenting this conclusion as unquestionable is misleading.” [1] Shapiro and colleagues began their […]

The authors concluded, however, that the symptoms were not due to an active infection, since they lasted longer than 6 months. And therefore, the patients would not benefit from additional rounds of antibiotic treatment.  “As more than 50% of the children had a duration of symptoms of more than 6 months, this further points towards

Transfusion-transmitted babesiosis (TTB) cases have been reported in Maryland, South Carolina, and Nebraska and “serve as a reminder of the potential for TTB, especially in states not endemic for Babesia,” cautions LeBel II from the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina. In their article published in the journal

The article, published in Clinical Autonomic Research, cites several cases [2-5] including one in which a 46-year-old patient reports increasing pain and swelling in his left foot. The pain was so significant that his leg became dysfunctional, according to the authors. “Even the slightest contact with the skin of the affected area caused the patient unbearable pain.” [2]

by Daniel J. Cameron, MD MPH In a 1990 report, Logigian and colleagues from Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, describe rage in patients with chronic neurologic Lyme disease. “Eight patients had excessive daytime sleepiness, and seven had extreme irritability. They became angry over circumstances that previously caused only minor annoyance.” [1] In 1994, Fallon

The retrospective study included 430 patients with uveitis who were referred to the hospital between 2003 and 2016. Seven patients were found to have Lyme-associated uveitis. Six of these individuals had reported walking in the forest previously and two recalled a tick bite. One patient had a history of an erythema migrans (EM) rash. Three

However, in their case study Clinical association: Lyme disease and Guillain-Barre Syndrome, the authors highlight “Borrelia burgdorferi as an important antecedent infection associated with the development of GBS,” [1] and describe a 31-year-old man diagnosed with both Lyme disease and GBS. The case raises the question: Could Lyme disease be an underrecognized infectious disease triggering or

In Wisconsin, between 2001 and 2015, “there was a 26-fold increase in the incidence of confirmed babesiosis, in addition to geographic expansion,” according to MMWR. [1] The report listed suburbanization, forest fragmentation patterns, and warming average temperatures as potential causes behind the surge. The rising prevalence of co-infections in rodents may also be to blame

Clinicians have been increasingly concerned with the low levels of gratitude and poor quality of life for fibromyalgia patients, particularly when compared with patients who have other chronic diseases. Gratitude has been associated with lower levels of depression and enhanced quality of life for patients with chronic illnesses such as heart failure and breast cancer,

by Daniel J. Cameron, MD MPH A recent study in the Journal of Hospital Medicine examines doctors’ knowledge and acceptance of antibiotic-prescribing guidelines for 3 common illnesses: a skin and soft tissue infection, suspected hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP), and asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB). [3] IDSA recommendations for treating such conditions were given to 30 hospital staff physicians,