“Our ignorance is often unbearable and may lead us to turn a blind eye on non-lesional diseases,” explains Raoult from the Aix-Marseille Université in France. [1] Such ignorance, Raoult says, has at times led scientists to believe that some diseases had a “psychiatric cause while they were somatic and could be easily treated.” One could say […]

Over the years, there has been much discussion and debate over whether reducing the deer population would in turn help lower the risk of Lyme disease, particularly in endemic regions. A 2014 study found that reducing the deer population “dramatically reduced I. scapularis abundance and Lyme disease cases on a Connecticut peninsula.” [1] A study […]

“We here describe the case of an 83-year-old man for whom we strongly suspect Lyme neuroborreliosis as the etiology of his stroke,” writes Moreno Legast and colleagues in the journal Hindawi Case Reports in Neurological Medicine. [1] The patient was admitted to the emergency room complaining of right-sided weakness and speech difficulties, which had developed […]

A study in 2003 found that 7 out of 10 children with Lyme disease, who were admitted to an emergency room with an acutely swollen joint, were suspected of having bacterial septic arthritis and underwent surgery, according to Willis. [1] So, can we prevent unnecessary surgery for children with Lyme arthritis? asks Gendelberg from Penn State […]

While many of these cases may be due to infections acquired when travelling to regions outside of New York City, it is important for clinicians to consider tick-borne diseases in their differential diagnoses in patients living in urban areas. The importance of this is reflected in a recent case study entitled, “A Walk in the […]

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 with heart block can cause non-specific symptoms and be challenging to diagnose. But, “recognizing this early would curtail the progression of conduction disorders and potentially avoid permanent pacemaker implantation,” states lead author Wan from Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. The majority of patients (3 out of 5) visited the emergency room multiple times […]

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 […]

According to the authors, out of the 1454 patients referred to the center, 255 (17.5%) were 65 years and older, of which 45% were males. The average age was 79, with a range from 65 to 87 years. One-third or 33% had clinical Lyme borreliosis and positive serologic tests, compared with 18% of the younger […]