by Daniel J. Cameron, MD MPH The Lyme disease bacterium swims in an undulating pattern throughout the body. “The flagella reside within the periplasm, the space between the bacterial cell wall and the outer membrane,” according to Harman, from the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Arizona. [1] “Rotation of the flagella within […]

by Daniel J. Cameron, MD MPH Ceres Nanosciences is marketing the Nanotrap® as “a game changing tool for Lyme disease diagnosis.” The first-of-its-kind urine-based Lyme Antigen test “will provide the most sensitive detection of Lyme disease, at all stages of the disease. Unlike other clinical Lyme disease tests that are indirect, the Nanotrap® LA test […]

The article, “Chronic Lyme borreliosis associated with minimal change glomerular disease: a case report,” cites four published papers describing kidney damage in Lyme disease patients. The papers consisted of 4 cases of membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN), a case of crescentic and IgA-deposit nephropathy, and a case of membranous nephropathy. [1] In another case, the authors describe […]

by Daniel J. Cameron, MD MPH The event consisted of 2 days of long distance mountain racing through a tick-infested habitat in Scotland. “Teams of 2 runners each navigate mountainous terrain, carrying all their equipment for an overnight camp,” according to Hall from the University of Salford. [1] To encourage participation in the study, racers […]

by Daniel J. Cameron, MD MPH Polly Murray’s children and neighbors suffered from Lyme disease rather than Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. Alan Steere described a cluster of adolescents and adults with Lyme disease in Lyme Connecticut. William Burgdorfer discovered Borrelia burgdorferi in the midgut of the Ixodes scapularis tick. James Krause discovered Babesia microti in the […]

Despite having the genetic apparatus, B. miyamotoi typically does not manifest with a relapsing fever. “Although evidence of antigenic variation, which drives the relapsing course of other relapsing fevers due to borrelia has not been demonstrated clinically or in an animal system thus far for B. miyamotoi [2], it has been shown that this species […]

by Daniel J. Cameron, MD MPH Doctors in Bogotá, Colombia, describe an encounter with a 24-year-old American woman whom they eventually diagnosed with Lyme disease seven days after she arrived in the country from Virginia, USA. [1] The woman presented to a Bogotá emergency room with a “popular pruritic lesion in [the] right flank.” The […]

Doctors described a case of BMD in a previously healthy 63-year-old American man living in Japan. “He reported being bitten by ticks several times while staying with his family at his summer house in the state of Minnesota in the USA from July 25 to August 9, 2013,” according to Oda from the Division of Infectious […]

The OspA vaccine trial was 78% effective at preventing a culture confirmed erythema migrans rash. But the vaccine was only 48% effective at preventing what the authors referred to as “possible Lyme disease.” “Possible Lyme disease was defined as a flu-like illness (fever, chills, fatigue, headache, joint or muscle aches) with IgM or IgG Western blot […]

by Daniel J. Cameron, MD MPH The authors found 13% of patients with a spinal tap positive by both cerebrospinal fluid pleocytosis and Borrelia-specific antibodies remained ill for more than 3 months after treatment. Meanwhile, 33% of Lyme neuroborreliosis patients with Borrelia-specific antibodies detected in cerebrospinal fluid and 43% of Lyme neuroborreliosis patients with pleocytosis […]

by Daniel J. Cameron, MD MPH “Three weeks after the vacation [in Cape Cod], he awoke in the night to use the bathroom. Thirty minutes later, he found himself on the bathroom floor, not recalling any premonitory symptoms for syncope. In the following weeks, he experienced a sharp decrement in exercise tolerance,” according to Patel […]

by Daniel J. Cameron, MD MPH According to the authors, “If uncontrolled in the context of neuroborreliosis, the astrocyte response could lead to long-term injury in the CNS.” Researchers identified changes in gene expression within 48 hours of infecting cultured astrocytes with Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb). “Understanding how these changes are maintained over time will be […]

by Daniel J. Cameron, MD MPH A 51-year-old man in the United Kingdom was hospitalized with retrosternal, dull chest pain. He had a history of palpitations, dizziness, and sweating and a previous transient ischemic attack.[1] He presented with a heart rate of 180 with right bundle branch block, a superior QRS axis, and signs of […]

by Daniel J. Cameron, MD MPH According to a 2017 study published in Clinical Infectious Disease, a pronounced TH17 cytokine response may be beneficial in the early stages of Lyme disease. “In these patients, the levels of inflammatory mediators, particularly TH17-associated cytokines, correlated directly with B. burgdorferi IgG antibodies (P<0.02), suggesting a beneficial role for […]

Questing ticks were collected from grassland, hedges, parks, woodland and woodland edges in Salisbury, an urban area located in Wiltshire, England. Ticks were identified at over 50% of the 25 sites surveyed. Furthermore, investigators reported that the collected ticks carried two pathogens posing a health risk to the public. The “DNA of Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. […]