Lyme Science Blog

Following is a list of the top blogs on Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses for 2019 according to our readers.  (Please click on the headline to read the complete Lyme disease blogs.) 1.) First report of Lyme disease causing mitral valve endocarditis There have been multiple reports documenting cardiac manifestations of Lyme disease, including […]

In the short run, we can kill ticks, explains Hodo and colleagues. “Controlled burns may affect tick populations, pathogen prevalence, and risk of pathogen exposure to humans and animals and therefore may be a useful tool in integrated tick management.” wrote Hodo in an article addressing killing ticks. “We found a marked difference in density

Can you die from Lyme disease? Yes. While rare, untreated Lyme carditis can cause fatal cardiac arrhythmias. Two New England cases demonstrate how diagnostic delays and waiting for test confirmation before starting antibiotics contributed to preventable deaths. By Dr. Daniel Cameron The Reality of Lyme Disease Mortality Lyme disease can lead to acute and chronic

Bannwarth syndrome is typically seen in Europe. However, in 2017 doctors from Mayo Clinic described 5 patients with the disease living in Minnesota and Wisconsin. All of the patients presented with peripheral neuropathy. Now, a 2019 case report by Diaz ¹  describes a 60-year-old man from the United States with a variant Bannwarth syndrome. The man

There is growing evidence supporting the existence and severity of chronic manifestations of Lyme disease despite recent treatment guidelines for Lyme disease. Studies have found that at least 1 in 3 patients treated for Lyme disease remained ill years after treatment. Furthermore, 4 clinical trials sponsored by the National Institutes of Medicine (NIH) documented the

Heart and Lyme disease complications extend far beyond the classic heart block presentation. A national study identified 189 children with Lyme carditis showing a broad spectrum of cardiac problems — from myocarditis to cardiac arrest — with median treatment costs exceeding $9,000 per child and rising incidence across the United States. By Dr. Daniel Cameron

The authors review the role of medical imaging for various infectious diseases including the Zika virus, measles, influenza, Chagas disease, syphilis, and Lyme disease. The authors include a discussion of a brain MRI in Lyme disease. Although it is uncommon, Lyme disease patients have presented with positive radiologic findings, writes Alves Simão. Test results, however,

Cross-Reactivity Opens Diagnostic Opportunity The C6 peptide Borrelia miyamotoi test may help identify this tick-borne infection. Koetsveld and colleagues examined C6 reactivity in sera from both mice infected with Borrelia miyamotoi and from 46 patients with PCR-positive Borrelia miyamotoi disease (BMD). Their results support the use of the C6 peptide test used for Lyme disease

Antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) are intended to slow down disease progression. Synthetic DMARDs include methotrexate and sulfasalazine. Biological DMARDs include the tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), blockers infliximab (Remicade®), interleukin 1 blockers anakinra (Kineret®), and monoclonal antibodies against B cells (such as rituximab) and the T cell costimulation blocker abatacept (ORENCIA®). The article addressed the factors

Multiple studies indicate that neurotransmitter levels can be “related to measures of behavioral outcomes, such as memory, reaction timing,” writes Oeltzschner in the journal Neurobiology of Aging. “These relationships can be region-specific.” Their results might lead to new insights to the brain of Lyme disease patients. Measuring these levels, he adds, “could be a promising