by Daniel J. Cameron, MD MPH A recent discovery by researchers at Mayo Clinic demonstrates the complexity of tick-borne organisms. Pathologists at the institution have described a new Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato genospecies in six patients. The new species, provisionally named Borrelia mayonii, was found in the Upper Midwest but it may be elsewhere. Symptoms are […]

by Daniel J. Cameron, MD MPH According to a paper published this week in Parasites & Vectors, “larval bites on humans, which easily go unnoticed, can cause Lyme borreliosis and Borrelia miyamotoi disease.” Researchers found that larvae of Ixodes ricinus can transmit Borrelia afzelii and B. miyamotoi to rodents. [1] Individuals living in the Netherlands […]

by Daniel J. Cameron, MD MPH Although Lyme disease and the Zika virus are transmitted by different types of vectors, both illnesses can cause severe, long-term health damage and are of enormous concern to the general public. The response by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to each threat, however, has been decidedly […]

by Daniel J. Cameron, MD MPH A study by Nimgaonkar and colleagues examines the relationship between cognitive deficits and infectious agents. The authors found a temporal cognitive decline in patients with exposure to infectious agents in a population-based, aging cohort. [1] The authors reported that exposure to cytomegalovirus (CMV), Herpes Simplex virus, type 1 (HSV-1), […]

As many as one-third of patients with Lyme disease are ill on long-term follow-up. A population-based, retrospective cohort study in Massachusetts found 34% of patients suffered from arthritis or recurrent arthralgias, neurocognitive impairment, and neuropathy or myelopathy, an average of 6 years after treatment for Lyme disease. [1] Meanwhile, 62% of a cohort of 215 consecutively treated Lyme disease patients in […]

by Daniel Cameron, MD MPH Physicians, including Dr. Gary Wormser who operate the facility, recently published a review article, which states, “We have never seen the poorly defined entity referred to as Lyme encephalopathy and question its existence. We also question the existence of a diffuse axonal peripheral neuropathy as a manifestation of Lyme disease, […]

Italy. Google Search Trends on Lyme disease. 2011 – 2015. In 2015, Lyme disease stole the spotlight. Quite possibly, like never before. The disease made international headlines throughout the year, grabbing the attention of individuals around the world, as big-name celebrities and high-profile executives went public and opened up about their struggles with a disease that has been stuck […]

by Daniel J. Cameron, MD, MPH The risk of becoming infected with Babesia is rising. It’s common to find ticks and enzootic hosts carrying both Borrelia burgdorferi (the causative agent of Lyme disease) and Babesia microti. In fact, between 12% and 42% of rodents are co-infected with both agents. Up to 40% of patients with […]

by Daniel J. Cameron, MD, MPH The survey’s data should not come as a surprise. Twelve years ago, in 2004, while testifying before the Connecticut Public Health Department, the state’s chief epidemiologist Dr. James Hadler warned officials that “… roughly 1% of the entire population, or probably 34,000 people, are getting a diagnosis of Lyme disease […]

by Daniel J. Cameron, MD, MPH It has been 25 years since chronic neurologic Lyme disease (CNL) was first described in a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine. [1] The study’s investigators included Dr. Alan Steere, the physician credited with discovering Lyme disease in 1977. In describing chronic neurologic Lyme disease (LD), […]

by Daniel J. Cameron, MD, MPH As the year comes to a close, we look back at some of the top news stories for 2015. 1. Steven A. Cohen’s Foundation Donates $6.5M to Lyme Disease “I was shocked to learn how many people suffer from Lyme disease in silence, and how much we still need […]

Scientists are increasingly focusing their attention on identifying tick-borne pathogens present in the Southeastern United States. In 2015, Lantos and colleagues released a paper which reviewed the geographic expansion of Lyme disease in the Southeast over the past 14 years. They found “a marked increase in Lyme disease cases in Virginia, particularly from 2007 onwards […]

by Daniel J. Cameron, MD, MPH “We need more national and international debates on Lyme disease, complemented by a solid research agenda and a focus on cutting edge biological technologies,” writes Borgermans and colleagues. “The medical community has been collectively forced out of its comfort zone on Lyme disease by increasing evidence of the complexity […]

Although Lyme disease is the most talked about tick-transmitted disease, Babesia is more common than you might think. In the 2015 issue of Trends in Parasitology, Diuk-Wasser and colleagues report that up to 40% of patients with Lyme disease experienced concurrent Babesiosis. [1] This means that out of the estimated 300,000 cases of Lyme disease […]

by Daniel J. Cameron, MD MPH In an article entitled “New-onset Panic, Depression with Suicidal Thoughts and Somatic Symptoms in a Patient with a History of Lyme Disease,” researchers highlight the complexity of evaluating and treating a patient with a history of suspected Lyme disease who presented with neuropsychiatric symptoms. [1] The authors, Amir Garakani […]