Lyme Science Blog

Four of the citizen scientists collectively recovered several hundred ticks over a 3-year period starting in 2014. The Saint John, New Brunswick collection process went beyond conventional flagging. “Ticks were obtained by flagging backyard vegetation with a white hand towel, removing ticks from flowers harvested in the backyard, and collecting ticks from the household cat,” […]

The authors describe the quality of the sleep of Lyme disease (LD) patients who were “ideally treated” for an erythema migrans rash. They defined “ideally treated” as a 3-week course of doxycycline. Their study excluded individuals with more complicated presentations including self-reported history of prior LD, having Lyme symptoms for greater than 3 months duration,

The study, led by Gupta from the Department of Public and Allied Health Sciences at Delaware State University, found that “participants’ knowledge of tick-borne diseases was poor,” with less than half (38.4%) believing ticks were problematic in Delaware. In fact, while more than half of the study’s respondents indicated having seen such prevention campaigns, only

“Her functionality was severely affected; she was bedbound for approximately 5 years and required a wheelchair,” writes Lim from the University of California in San Francisco. [1] Her medical history also included fibromyalgia, hypothyroidism, anxiety/depression, and insomnia. Her skin, spine, bones and joint pain was severe and difficult to treat. “She had severe pain episodes

The article published in General Hospital Psychiatry examines the temporal incidence of obsessive compulsive symptoms (OCS) among 147 subjects, ages 18 – 82, with Lyme disease. The study found that 84% of these individuals reported having “clinically significant” OCS. However, only 44% identified themselves as experiencing OCS. Their obsessions and compulsions included washing, checking, ordering,

In their study, Buchholz and colleagues, from Western Kentucky University, found that more than half of the mice in Kentucky tested positive for Borrelia burgdorferi. They also discovered that the prevalence of B. burgdorferi was higher in tissue than in blood – a finding consistent with other studies. “Overall prevalence of B. burgdorferi in mammals

A 30-year-old man presented to the ER with “a pulse of 53/min and annular macular rash located over the anterior and posterior aspect of the left chest wall,” writes Cunha. Laboratory evidence confirmed Lyme disease by ELISA and both an IgG and IgM western blot. His ejection fraction was slightly reduced at 50%. The rash

According to the authors, Lyme disease mimicked a myocardial infarction (heart attack)  in a 45-year-old woman who presented with a sudden onset of chest pain, radiating to her neck. The evidence supporting a diagnosis of myocardial infarction was strong. A medical workup showed the woman had EKG changes, high admission levels of Troponin and CK-MB,

In their article published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine, the authors state, “Results from the physical exam and laboratory testing our sample of patients with PTLDS did not show a pattern of significant objective abnormalities.” However, “the most notable exception was the higher rate of diminished vibratory sensation on physical exam among participants with