Lyme disease can directly infiltrate the heart leading to an exaggerated inflammatory response when spirochetes penetrate the heart. Lyme carditis can appear within 1 to 2 months after the onset of a Lyme disease infection, wrote Yeung and Baranchuk.¹ They point out, the most common presentation of LC (90%) is high-degree atrioventricular (AV) block (AVB). […]
The authors explored the current Long-COVID literature, and specifically addressed the cardiovascular, thrombotic and cerebrovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and dysautonomia seen in Long-COVID. The authors did not include Lyme disease in their discussion. “One study found that fatigue, headache, dizziness, dyspnoea, chest pain, dysosmia, dysgeusia, reduced appetite, concentration difficulties, […]
The study entitled “Ischemic Stroke With Hemorrhagic Conversion in a Case of Lyme Neuroborreliosis” by Sathi and colleagues describes the case of a 59-year-old man who presented to a hospital in Florida with ischemic stroke with aphasia and acute confusion that had been ongoing for two days. The patient had a medical history which included […]
The existence of Lyme disease in Greece remains controversial. In a recent study “Serological evidence of possible Borrelia afzelii lyme disease in Greece,” Karageorgou and colleagues examined patients throughout Greece suspected for Lyme disease by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and by western blotting for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato species. “We found one patient positive for […]
In their article, “Case report: human granulocytic anaplasmosis causes acute myopericarditis with atrial fibrillation,” Levy et al. describe the case of a 65-year-old man who presented to the emergency room with fever and malaise, which had persisted for one week.¹ An electrocardiogram showed new atrial fibrillation and conduction abnormalities. The man resides in a suburb […]
“Lyme disease has been associated with a wide variety of persistent neuropsychological and cognitive symptoms, including: impaired attention, focus, concentration, judgment, and impulse control,” in addition to impaired memory and speech functions, according to an article published by Amen Clinics.¹ Recent studies of patients with post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS) have found “consistent deficits in […]
In their article “Transfusion-transmitted babesiosis in a patient with sickle cell disease undergoing chronic red cell exchange,” Costa and colleagues describe a patient who contracted Babesia from a donor living in Ohio, a state that is not considered endemic for Babesia.¹ According to the authors, a 30-year-old man with sickle cell disease (SCD) required approximately […]
One study found black patients with Lyme disease were more likely to present with disseminated disease. The authors suggested, “This may be due to failure to recognize early disease (erythema migrans) among African Americans, resulting in increased rates of late manifestations.”¹ Ly reported similar results using 2015–2016 claims data sample of Traditional Medicare beneficiaries. “Among […]
In the study “The Spectrum of Erythema Migrans in Early Lyme Disease: Can We Improve Its Recognition?,” investigators examined images of lesions from 69 participants, including 43 men and 26 women, suspected to have early Lyme disease. The majority of participants (83%) presented with a single lesion.¹ The images were retrospectively evaluated by a dermatologist […]
The authors recruited their participants through a Lyme disease-focused organization, but eligibility was open to anyone over 18 years of age who had been pregnant. They included participants who did not develop symptoms until after their pregnancies and individuals who were not treated for Lyme disease (LD) for years after their pregnancy despite being symptomatic […]
In the study “Prevalence of Lyme Carditis in Patients with Atrioventricular Blocks,” Kaczmarek and colleagues aim to identify patients in whom Lyme carditis (LC) should be considered as the underlying cause of AV conduction disturbances.¹ Investigators examined 130 patients with AVB who had been consecutively admitted over a 12-month period, to the Department of Electrocardiology […]
In the article “Failure of an Approximately Six Week Course of Tafenoquine to Completely Eradicate Babesia microti Infection in an Immunocompromised Patient,” Prasad and Wormser describe a chronic relapsing Babesia infection in an elderly woman.¹ The 74-year-old patient was admitted to the hospital in August 2021 with a 2-day history of fatigue and fevers. She […]
The following blogs were the most popular for readers in 2022. (Click on the headline to read the full blog.) 1) Tafenoquine: Treatment for relapsing Babesia This case report describes an immunocompromised patient with Babesia microti who received treatment with tafenoquine after experiencing several relapses. The 36-year-old man was hospitalized in 2019 due to unexplained […]
In their article “Coexisting Thyroiditis and Carditis in a Patient with Lyme Disease: Looking for a Unifying Diagnosis,” Zarghamravanbakhsh and colleagues described the case of a 53-year-old woman who was found to have carditis and painless, autoimmune thyroiditis, likely due to Lyme disease.¹ A few days after returning from a trip to Delaware, the woman […]
“Distinguishing Lyme arthritis (LA), the most common manifestation of the disease in children, from septic arthritis (SA) can be challenging because of overlap in clinical presentations,” the authors state. In this study, investigators “assessed the predictive value of MRI as an aid in identifying LA.” They examined the medical records and MRI scans of children […]
