Lyme Science Blog

Lyme Optic Neuritis: A Rare Cause of Bilateral Vision Loss Lyme optic neuritis is a rare neurologic complication of Lyme disease that can cause inflammation of the optic nerve and progressive visual loss. Unlike typical optic neuritis, which is usually unilateral and painful, Lyme-associated optic neuritis often presents with bilateral optic nerve swelling and painless […]

Hearing Loss and Vertigo in Lyme Disease: When Inner Ear Symptoms Are Missed Hearing loss in Lyme disease can occur when infection affects the inner ear or the vestibulocochlear nerve (cranial nerve VIII). Patients may also experience vertigo, tinnitus, dizziness, and balance problems—symptoms that are a recognized feature of Lyme disease symptoms when the auditory

Lower socioeconomic status: a risk factor for disseminated Lyme disease Moon et al. explored the risk factors for disseminated Lyme disease using an electronic database from the Geisinger integrated health care system located in Pennsylvania. They based their data on both diagnostic and narrative text data. One out of three of their disseminated Lyme disease

Prior Trauma May Worsen Lyme Disease Symptom Severity Prior trauma may influence the severity of symptoms in Lyme disease. Research suggests that individuals with a history of traumatic life events may experience more severe cognitive, mood, and functional symptoms after Lyme infection. The authors cited earlier research by Solomon and colleagues examining the role of

Child with Lyme disease diagnosed with radiculopathy A 10-year-old boy presented with fatigue, posterior lower neck pain, and a low-grade fever of 100.8. “The soft tissues of the posterior neck and upper back were tender with allodynia,” wrote Baker and colleagues in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine.² They added, the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

Could there be subclinical cardiac involvement in early Lyme disease in children? In an earlier study by Woolf and colleagues, nearly 1 in 5 children (19.6%) children with an erythema migrans (EM) rash or a positive two-tier Lyme serology had EKG evidence of carditis. Twenty-four of the children had atrioventricular (11.2%). Their study did not

Does Permethrin-Treated Clothing Work? Effectiveness and Safety Explained Permethrin-treated clothing is one of the most effective ways to protect yourself from ticks and reduce the risk of tick-borne disease. As more individuals venture outdoors during warmer weather, concerns about tick exposure increase. Researchers have examined not only the effectiveness of tick repellents and protective clothing

Birds vs. rodents in transmitting tick-borne pathogens In their study, “Transmission patterns of tick-borne pathogens among birds and rodents in a forested park in southeastern Canada,” Dumas et al. “investigated and compared the role of breeding birds to rodents in local transmission dynamics of B. burgdorferi s.s., A. phagocytophilum and B. miyamotoi, which are emerging pathogens in southeastern Canada.”¹ Researchers collected ticks and

Lyme disease triggers inflammation in “hindbrain” In their article, “Neuroborreliosis with involvement of rhombencephalon: A case report,” ¹ Svingen and colleagues describe a unique presentation in which Lyme disease triggered inflammation of the rhombencephalon, a region of the brain also referred to as the hindbrain. Over an 8-month period, the patient experienced intermittent fevers, dry

Lyme myocarditis in patient with no other signs of Lyme disease The 37-year-old man developed Lyme myocarditis without displaying any clinical symptoms of Lyme disease. He did not recall a tick bite or rash. He resided in Germany and had been receiving immunosuppressive treatment for MPA. The man initially presented to the emergency department with