Lyme Science Blog

There is increasing evidence of bacterial persistence in microbiology. “Though its applicability to B. burgdorferi has been controversial, persistence is a widely-accepted phenomenon in microbiology which in some instances can have therapeutic implications,” according to Cabello. [1] “While still a matter of dispute, there are numerous reports of antimicrobial treatment unable to completely eliminate B.

Neonatal babesiosis is a rare but serious threat to premature infants. A team of researchers at Yale School of Medicine describe three premature infants—all in one neonatal intensive care unit—who contracted Babesia from a single 24-year-old blood donor. The report was published in the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Journal. How Neonatal Babesiosis Spread Through One NICU

A tick bite red meat allergy can develop after exposure to the Lone Star tick—and now possibly European ticks as well. Alpha Gal is a sugar molecule that can be spread through the bite of a Lone Star tick. Once bitten, a person’s immune system begins making antibodies to α-Gal. Red meat is rife with

Congenital babesiosis is rare but serious. Two infants born to mothers with Lyme disease during pregnancy developed Babesia infections — the first known cases where mothers had prepartum Lyme and subclinical Babesia microti infection. Congenital transmission has been described in 7 previous cases, in which the infants presented with fever, anemia, and thrombocytopenia, explains Saetre

Borrelia miyamotoi Canada cases are more common than previously thought. To determine the prevalence of the disease, specifically in Manitoba, Canada, Kadkhoda and his team tested randomly selected blood samples from 250 individuals living in that area, who had suspected or confirmed Lyme disease. Samples had been submitted to the Cadham Provincial Laboratory in Manitoba

Babesia microti is a growing concern in Suffolk County, New York. Ticks were collected in 2015 and 2016 by tick dragging at 5 sites in Suffolk County (Southampton, Mannorville, Southold, Islip, and Huntington) and 3 sites in Connecticut (Mansfield in Tolland County and Stamford and Greenwich in Fairfield County). “As expected, B. burgdorferi (Bb) was

A 31-year-old woman with post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS) had pain that was refractory to radiofrequency ablation, vitamin infusion therapy, opioid analgesics, and other pharmacotherapies. Her pain began gradually three years after being diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease, explains Hanna from the Florida Spine Institute. The patient complained of diffuse body pain, fatigue, headache,

Bransfield’s colleagues from Howard University, Rush University Medical Center and the University of North Dakota agree with his assessment, stating, “We would like to applaud the author for conducting such an important study by performing a comprehensive assessment of suicide and its association with Lyme-associated diseases (LADs).” [2] In their article “Suicidal and homicidal tendencies

According to investigators, 2 of the 35 Ixodes spp ticks identified tested positive for Bb s.l. [1] The discovery, however, was not unexpected following reports of borreliosis-like disease in Brazil. “During 2009–2016, Brazil registered 4078 suspected cases of borreliosis-like disease, also known as Baggio-Yoshinari syndrome,” states Dall’Agnol from the Instituto de Pesquisas Veterinárias Desidério Finamor