Lyme Science Blog

Babesia urban cases are on the rise — and this South Bronx case shows why clinicians must consider tick-borne diseases even in patients living in cities. A single day trip to a state park was enough to cause a serious Babesia infection. While many of these cases may be due to infections acquired when travelling […]

The patient had been living in New York for the past 10 years and only recently returned to Japan to visit family. “The neurologist initially suspected mild tetanus with lockjaw caused by Clostridium tetani infection, which is relatively common in our area,” writes Seki from the division of Infectious Diseases and Infection Control, Tohoku Medical

Ezequiel and colleagues report on the case of a 9-year-old boy from Portugal who was diagnosed with pseudotumor cerebri due to Lyme disease. The child “was admitted with daily pulsatile frontotemporal headache, pallor, photophobia and phonophobia, without night awakening, vomiting or visual changes,” writes Ezequiel in the British Medical Journal Case Reports. [1] His neurological

Lyme carditis multiple ER visits reflect a dangerous pattern of medical dismissal. In five Canadian cases, three patients required multiple emergency room visits before diagnosis — one patient made four trips before Lyme carditis was recognized. Early identification could have prevented progression to complete heart block and avoided the need for temporary pacemakers. By Dr.

In their research, Bhatia and colleagues found evidence that re-infection with the same strain reduces the infectivity of spirochetes in mice. The infectivity of spirochetes that fed on mice infected with the same strain was dramatically reduced but not eliminated. However, re-infection with a different strain increased the infectivity of the spirochete. When infected with

The three study groups were all prescribed 2 weeks of intravenous ceftriaxone. Two of the three groups were prescribed an additional 12 weeks of oral antibiotics, either doxycycline or a combination of clarithromycin with hydroxychloroquine. [1] The quality of life (QOL) for Netherlands patients with persistent symptoms associated with Lyme disease was poor before antibiotic

In their article published in The American Journal of Medicine, Paim and her team describe a 68-year-old male with progressive dyspnea and valve disease. His transesophageal echocardiogram revealed a mitral valve perforation with severe mitral valve insufficiency. The mitral valve was repaired and aortic valve replaced. The patient was prescribed ceftriaxone and azithromycin along with diuretic

The majority of Lyme disease cases are believed to occur in the Northeast, with 9.7% of cases reported in New York State, says Herrin, from Oklahoma State University, in the journal Parasites & Vectors. The rate of infected dogs is similar. “In New York State, 7.1% of pet dogs tested are seropositive [for B. burgdorferi],”

The authors collected deer ticks from 794 hunter-harvested white-tailed deer and 2 from black bears (killed by cars). An additional 6 ticks were removed from two field biologists assisting with tick collection, which took place between October 2015 and January 2017. “We combined our data (41 new county records) with data from Eisen et al.

Ticks were collected by veterinary clinics and the general public between 2014 and 2016 and sent to the university as part of a surveillance program. In evaluating the data, the authors identified “hot spots” in northern New Brunswick where I. scapularis ticks had been found on dogs. “Canine infections were generally concentrated in the south-central