Lyme Science Blog

Lyme Science Blog

cardiac-problems-lyme-disease
Lyme Science Blog

Cardiac problems after a 10-day course of treatment for Lyme disease

The 49-year old man had been diagnosed one month earlier with Lyme disease after testing positive and treated with a 10-day course of doxycycline. He was an avid hiker who had frequented trails in Pennsylvania, wrote Palmer and colleagues in their article “Atrial Flutter and Left Hemidiaphragmatic Paralysis in the Setting of Lyme Disease.”¹ The […]

lyme-disease-seizures-child
Lyme Science Blog

Lyme disease triggers seizures in young child

Nervous system Lyme disease has a wide spectrum of manifestations, including facial nerve palsy and subacute meningitis, which are often observed in the pediatric population, the authors state. But only rarely, have cases of seizures triggered by Lyme disease been reported. In their case report, the authors describe a 4-year-old boy who was admitted to […]

autism-lyme-disease
Lyme Science Blog

Autism (ASD) symptoms improve following treatment for Lyme disease

“Case report: Substantial improvement of autism spectrum disorder in a child with learning disabilities in conjunction with treatment for poly-microbial vector borne infections,” by Drs. Offutt and Breitschwerdt describes the case of an adolescent diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, who had cognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms which improved following treatment for Lyme disease and Bartonella.¹ The […]

Boy getting massage for neck pain due to Lyme disease.
Lyme Science Blog

Neck pain in a child with Lyme disease due to radiculoneuritis

The boy presented with fatigue, posterior lower neck pain, and a low-grade temperature of 100.8 for one day. There was no history of a tick bite, erythema migrans rash, or Bell’s palsy, suggestive of Lyme disease. There was pain in the soft tissues of the posterior neck and upper back. An Magnetic resonance image (MRI) […]

treatment-babesiosis
Lyme Science Blog

Treatment for Relapsing Babesiosis?

As this case report demonstrates, immunocompromised patients with Babesia may not respond to standard antimicrobial treatment, resulting in relapsing babesiosis. But investigators suggest that a combination of medications including Malarone shows promise for treatment-resistant patients. In their article “Atovaquone-Proguanil: A Promising Therapy for Persistent Relapsing Babesiosis,” Shahid and colleagues describe a case of relapsing babesiosis […]

lyme-arthritis-children
Lyme Science Blog

Lyme arthritis symptoms in young child emerge years after tick bite

In their article, “Ten-year-old Omani Girl with Lyme Arthritis,” Mughaizwi and colleagues describe a young child who had lived in the United States for 5 years before moving to Oman.¹ One year after her return to Oman, she developed symptoms of Lyme arthritis. “We report a 10-year-old girl who presented with acute arthritis of the […]

walk-lyme-disease
Lyme Science Blog

Wheelchair-bound CEO regains ability to walk after Lyme disease treatment

In this case report, “Exacerbation of Osteoarthritic Joint Pain by Lyme Disease,” Bennani and colleagues demonstrate the importance in identifying an underlying tick-borne infection, as appropriate treatment can dramatically improve a patient’s quality of life.¹ A 63-year-old man, who was wheelchair-bound, presented to his clinician’s office with severe pain in both knees, which had been […]

babesia-symptoms
Lyme Science Blog

Atypical Babesia symptoms in elderly man

In the article “An Atypical Case Presentation of Babesiosis,” Allen and colleagues describe a unique patient who contracted Babesiosis but did not exhibit many of the typical Babesia symptoms, such as night sweats, chills, shortness of breath and weight loss.¹ Instead, his symptoms were limited to weakness, fever, tachycardia and leg pain. CASE REPORT A […]

lyme-disease-eyes
Lyme Science Blog

Lyme disease can affect your eyes leading to various complications

Lyme disease is typically associated with flu-like symptoms or neurologic complications but an infection with Borrelia burgdorferi (the causative agent of Lyme disease) can also cause problems with your eyes.  In their article, “Co-infectious Uveitis With Syphilis and Lyme Disease: A Case Report,”¹ Mandal and colleagues describe what they believe is the first documented case […]

Patient with Lyme disease skin rash
Lyme Science Blog

Lyme disease skin rash puzzles doctors, leads to misdiagnoses

Lyme disease can cause an atypical skin rash, which may be overlooked by clinicians. In this case report, a 43-year-old woman, who was an avid gardener and lived in Wisconsin, developed pink papules behind her right knee.1  Over the next several days, the rash “evolved into painless vesicles with surrounding faint erythema.” She also developed […]

lyme-encephalitis
Lyme Science Blog

Case report: Lyme neuroborreliosis with encephalitis

A 74-year-old woman had been hospitalized four times over a period of three months. During these admissions, she was treated with antibiotics for a urinary tract infection, states Rosendahl and colleagues in their article “Lyme neuroborreliosis with encephalitis: A rare case.”¹ On her last admission, the woman exhibited confusion, paranoid delusions, a weight loss of […]

lyme-disease-mix-symptoms
Lyme Science Blog

Lyme disease causes mix of symptoms, including autonomic dysfunction

“Our case emphasizes that Lyme disease is capable of causing a mix of symptoms, which may be difficult to interpret, leading to a delay in diagnosis,” the authors write. And these symptoms may “develop consecutively further obscuring the clinical picture.” A 69-year-old male presented to the hospital with abdominal pain and hyponatremia, a condition that […]

Lyme Science Blog

How long does it take for a tick to transmit Babesia?

The study is of particular interest given the news that Babesia cases are on the rise. According to a recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) from the Centers from Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there has been an alarming increase in the numbers of Babesia cases in the Northeastern U.S. [1] Eight states in this […]

lyme-carditis
Lyme Science Blog

Atypical case of Lyme carditis in Florida woman

According to the authors, this patient presented with myocarditis-predominant Lyme carditis without cardiac conduction abnormalities – an unusual presentation given that 90% of Lyme carditis cases involve conduction abnormalities. A 57-year-old woman, who was immunocompromised and living in Florida, was admitted to the hospital for acute heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. Her symptoms included […]

lyme-arthritis
Lyme Science Blog, Uncategorized

Lyme arthritis and periprosthetic joint infections

In their article, “Medically Managed Lyme Periprosthetic Joint Infection: A Case Report,” Saar et al. describe the case involving a patient with acute Lyme arthritis which was complicated by a previous total knee arthroplasty. A 68-year-old man living in Virginia presented to a medical clinic with suprapatellar swelling, pain, heat, and mild erythema of the […]