7-year-old girl with Lyme disease presenting as attention deficit disorder
Children are at the greatest risk for developing Lyme disease, with the highest rates of infection occurring in those ages 5 to 9. And out of the more than 300,000 people diagnosed annually in the U.S. with Lyme disease, 25% are children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This is particularly alarming given that the disease can be difficult to identify in younger patients with symptoms often overlooked or attributed to other medical conditions.
Stroke as a manifestation of Lyme disease
Strokes should be added to the list of manifestations of Lyme disease based on a 2007 systematic review published in Frontiers in Neurology. [1] The authors identified 88 patients in the literature presenting with cerebrovascular course of Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB).
Johns Hopkins’ study supports early identification of Lyme disease patients for re-treatment
Lyme disease patients can suffer for years following antibiotic treatment. According to one study, patients with chronic neurologic Lyme disease were ill for up to 14 years. [1] Patients enrolling in three trials sponsored by the National Institutes of Health were sick an average of 4.7 years respectively. [2,3] Meanwhile, researchers at Johns Hopkins recently identified Lyme disease patients who might benefit from early interventions. [4]
The risk of pain and fatigue after three weeks of Lyme disease treatment
Researchers at John Hopkins describe the risk of pain and fatigue after three weeks of treatment with doxycycline for an erythema migrans rash. According to the article published in Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 23 of 107 patients (21%) had a high fatigue total score and 33 of 107 patients (31%) had a high pain score. Only 5 of 107 patients (5%) had a high depression total score.
When Lyme disease causes a positive test for mononucleosis
False positive serologies for Lyme disease have been previously reported in patients with acute infectious mononucleosis. However, a recent paper describes two cases in which Lyme disease was misdiagnosed as mono based on false positive serologies for the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).
Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) case resolved with antibiotics
Lyme disease has been ruled out in other conditions based on negative serologic tests only to seroconvert to positive serologies on follow-up. [1,2] This was demonstrated in the case of a 41-year-old woman with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), according to Perronne from the Infectious Diseases Unit, University Hospital Raymond Poincaré, APHP, Versailles Saint Quentin University, Garches, France.
High number of Lyme disease diagnoses through the winter in England
Lyme disease is becoming increasingly common in the UK. In fact, a new study reports a 42% increase in the number of Lyme disease diagnoses in hospitals in England between 2011 and 2015.
Diplopia (double vision) and heart block in early-disseminated Lyme disease
In the latest issue of Mayo Clinical Proceedings, a physician from Mayo Clinic describes a 49-year-old man from Minnesota with acute-onset diplopia (double vision) and heart block in early-disseminated Lyme disease. [1] “This patient met criteria for early-disseminated Lyme disease with multiple erythema migrans lesions and evidence of cardiac and neurologic involvement,” according to Blackwell from the Department of General Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic. Over the course of a month, the patient’s rash grew to cover most of his chest.
First report of Malaria with Lyme disease as a co-infection
Malaria and Lyme disease are common vector-borne illnesses. While malaria is caused by a tropical parasite, Lyme disease is transmitted by a non-tropical bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb). In the 2017 issue of Clinical Case Reports, doctors in Portugal describe the case of a 42-year-old man who was initially diagnosed with malaria but later found to also be infected with Borrelia. [1]
Young kids and the elderly in New Hampshire are at greatest risk of a tick bite
In the United States, young kids and the elderly are at the greatest risk of developing Lyme disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Now, a study examining emergency room (ED) admissions has found that in New Hampshire they are also at the greatest risk of getting a tick bite. [1]
