Lyme Science Blog

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

Severity of Lyme disease even without contracting COVID-19 Cases The burden of illness for individuals with a history of Lyme disease can be high Case 1: A 68-year-old woman with a history of a deer tick bite, but no rash or a swollen knee. She is not sure which tests were positive. She had been

Concerns individuals with a history of Lyme disease have with the COVID-19 vaccine. Cases of Lyme Disease and COVID-19 Case 1: A 45-year-old white woman with a partial college education was working as a groundskeeper. She had a history of Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, irritable bowel syndrome, and viral meningitis. She had been ill for 37 years.