A 10-year-old boy presented with fatigue, posterior lower neck pain, and a low-grade fever of 100.8. “The soft tissues of the posterior neck and upper back were tender with allodynia,” wrote Baker and colleagues in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine.² They added, the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of the cervical spine showed “questionable” nerve […]

In an earlier study by Woolf and colleagues, nearly 1 in 5 children (19.6%) children with an erythema migrans (EM) rash or a positive two-tier Lyme serology had EKG evidence of carditis. Twenty-four of the children had atrioventricular (11.2%). Their study did not report troponin levels.¹ High-sensitivity cardiac troponin assays have been used to identify […]

As more individuals begin to venture outside with warmer weather, there are often concerns over how to protect yourself from ticks. Researchers have examined not only the effectiveness of various repellents and protective clothing but also the behavior of individuals who are more likely to encounter ticks. Researchers in Indiana looked at the protective measures […]

In their study, “Transmission patterns of tick-borne pathogens among birds and rodents in a forested park in southeastern Canada,” Dumas et al. “investigated and compared the role of breeding birds to rodents in local transmission dynamics of B. burgdorferi s.s., A. phagocytophilum and B. miyamotoi, which are emerging pathogens in southeastern Canada.”¹ Researchers collected ticks and rodents from the Mont Saint-Bruno National Park […]

In their article, “Neuroborreliosis with involvement of rhombencephalon: A case report,” ¹ Svingen and colleagues describe a unique presentation in which Lyme disease triggered inflammation of the rhombencephalon, a region of the brain also referred to as the hindbrain. Over an 8-month period, the patient experienced intermittent fevers, dry cough, fatigue, headaches, night sweats, unintentional […]

The 37-year-old man developed Lyme myocarditis without displaying any clinical symptoms of Lyme disease. He did not recall a tick bite or rash. He resided in Germany and had been receiving immunosuppressive treatment for MPA. The man initially presented to the emergency department with fatigue, palpitations and shortness of breath, which had been ongoing for […]

Cases of Lyme Disease and COVID-19 Case 1: A 45-year-old white woman with a partial college education was working as a groundskeeper. She had a history of Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, irritable bowel syndrome, and viral meningitis. She had been ill for 37 years. There was not a history of a deer tick bite or erythema migrans. […]

A study by Schubert and Melanson, entitled “Prevalence of Lyme Disease Attributable to Military Service at the USMA, West Point NY: FY2016–2018,” looks at the exposure of military personnel and their families to the Ixodes scapularis (or black-legged) tick, the vector of Lyme disease. [1] The authors examined cases of Lyme disease treated at a […]

“The clinical presentation of Lyme arthritis (LA) of the hip can be similar to both acute bacterial septic arthritis (SA) and transient synovitis (TS),” explains Cruz and colleagues. ¹ “Differentiating between SA, LA, and TS of the hip can be challenging, even for the most discerning clinician.” But, accurately diagnosing these conditions is important since […]

“While mostly vigilant and awake, he intermittently lacked full orientation, had reduced attention, concentration, short-term memory function, increased motor activity, mild formal thought disorder (incl. some tangential thinking), but no frank psychotic symptoms,” the authors explain. The man was diagnosed with delirium, potentially related to dementia. An abnormal F18-FDG-PET scan was interpreted as consistent with […]

Lyme disease can trigger various heart problems, including Lyme carditis, which typically occurs early on in the disease.  “Lyme carditis is an important reversible cause of heart block, especially in endemic areas,” wrote Aljadba et al. in their article, “Lyme carditis manifesting as Wenckebach heart block.”¹ “Prompt recognition of this potentially lethal condition, with appropriate initiation […]

The woman had a three-week history of a fever (maximum temperature, 104 F], chills, nausea, and productive cough of yellow sputum. Six weeks prior to her onset of symptoms, the woman had been vacationing in Connecticut, an area endemic for Lyme disease. She reported having 2 tick bites during the previous year. Her examination and […]

1.) Involuntary body movements due to Lyme disease dismissed as psychosomatic A man in his 70’s had an abrupt onset of involuntary body movements, including jerks in his left arm. Doctors initially dismissed him as having a functional disorder. However, his involuntary body movements were due to Lyme disease. 2.) Bannwarth syndrome in early disseminated Lyme […]

1.)  Should Lyme disease patients with an impaired immune system get the COVID-19 vaccine? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) posted mRNA COVID-19 vaccination considerations for people who have a weakened immune system. “People with HIV and those with weakened immune systems due to other illnesses or medication might be at increased risk […]

The study’s objective was to “evaluate the seasonality of pediatric Lyme disease in three endemic regions in the United States,” writes Sundheim. Participants had been treated at 8 different medical centers throughout the Northeast and UpperMidwest. Of the 690 children with Lyme disease, 77 (11.2%) had a single EM lesion, 247 (35.7%) had early disseminated […]