Top 10 Lyme disease blogs for 2019!
The top blogs for 2019 on Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses covered a range of topics. The impact of Lyme disease on cardiac functioning, neurologic changes, and autonomic dysfunction, along with case reports highlighting the unusual presentations of Lyme disease were of most interest to readers.
Killing ticks through controlled burns
Can we kill ticks through controlled burns? In the journal Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases, researchers describe findings from a study in which they surveyed questing and on-host ticks in forests with various fire management regimes in an area near Houston, Texas. They looked at two transects with a history of controlled burns and two with no burns.
Patients can die when Lyme carditis is not treated
Lyme carditis can cause a broad range of symptoms. Patients may initially appear to have only a flu-like illness, however the severity of symptoms can change rapidly. In the article “Fatal Lyme carditis in New England: Two case reports,” Marx and colleagues highlight the importance of early recognition and treatment, even empirically, as Lyme carditis can be deadly when left untreated.
Bannwarth syndrome and weight loss – an atypical case
Bannwarth syndrome is a neurological disease caused by an infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterial agent of Lyme disease. The disease causes intense nerve pain and is characterized by “painful radiculopathy, neuropathy, varying degrees of motor weakness, lower motor neuron (LMN) facial nerve palsy and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) lymphocytic pleocytosis,” writes Diaz et al. in the journal Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery.
Treatment guidelines for Lyme disease strike out. An editorial.
In 2000, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) published the first set of guidelines for the treatment of Lyme disease. The guidelines were criticized for not recognizing the existence and severity of chronic Lyme disease. The second set of guidelines, released by IDSA in 2006, again failed to recognize chronic Lyme disease. [1] Now, it would appear that the next set of soon-to-be-released guidelines are in danger of striking out again and not recognizing the existence and severity of chronic Lyme disease.
Study identifies189 children with Lyme carditis
In reviewing medical records from a Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) database between 2007 and 2013, clinicians identified 189 children diagnosed with Lyme carditis. “The burden of Lyme disease and Lyme carditis in U.S. children’s hospitals has increased in recent years,” writes Beach and colleagues in Pediatric Cardiology.
Brain MRI in Lyme disease
Infectious pathogens, including viral, bacterial and parasitic, can impact the central nervous system (CNS), resulting in neurologic disease. “The infections caused by these pathogens often show a variety of neuroimaging patterns that can be identified [on a] CT scan and MRI,” explains Alves Simão and colleagues. ¹ Radiology, they argue, is central to the diagnosis and follow-up of these conditions. Therefore, “radiologists should be familiar with these infections.”
C6 peptide test may indicate Borrelia miyamotoi infection
The C6 enzyme immunoassay (EIA) is often used to diagnose Lyme disease. The test is based on the C6 peptide of the Borrelia burgdorferi sl VlsE protein. But a recent study suggests the C6 peptide test may also indicate an infection with Borrelia miyamotoi, another tick-borne disease.
Treatment of Lyme arthritis with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD)
Editorial: I am concerned with the subgroup of Lyme arthritis (LA) patients described by Dr. Steere, who “developed a marked inflammatory, proliferative synovitis lasting months to several years after antibiotic treatment.”
Could advanced imaging reveal cognitive impairment in the brain of a Lyme disease patients?
Clinicians can now measure neurotransmitter levels in the brains of patients with mild cognitive impairment using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) with advanced 7 Tesla technology. MRS, also referred to as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), shows the “levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), glutathione and other neurotransmitters in brain regions of interest with greater precision than previous, lower-strength imaging systems,” explains Oeltzschner and colleagues. ¹
