< Back to Research Top Published Date 03/01/2017 Fever and Vision Loss in an Immunocompetent 20-Year-Old Male Journal Clinical Infectious Diseases Citation Clin Infect Dis. 2017 Jan 15;64(2):229 DOI 10.1093/cid/ciw717 Authors Di Bella S, Rinaldi S , Maurel C, Vattovani O, Luzzati R, Tognetto D Abstract Diagnosis: Bartonella Henselae Neuroretinitis. Given the history of cat owning and axillary lymphadenopathy,a presumptive diagnosis of Bartonella infection was made. Doxycycline 100 mg and rifampin 300 mg every 12 hours were administered. Immunoglobulin M (IgM) and immunoglobulin G (IgG) for Bartonella henselae were 1:20 and 1:256, respectively, confirming the diagnosis. Systemic steroids were also given since an immune-mediated damage cannot be excluded in the pathogenesis of Bartonella neuroretinitis. During a more accurate interview, the patient recalled repeated scratches by his newly acquired kitten. He experienced prompt defervescence and a progressive improvement of sight with complete recovery after 2-months. URL Previous https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/64/2/229/2811282 No Review Needed? Next

< Back New course on One Health strategies for diagnosing Lyme disease LRC 31 Jul 2023 Previous Next

< Back to Research Top Published Date 22/10/2020 Efficacy of Double-Dose Dapsone Combination Therapy in the Treatment of Chronic Lyme Disease/Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS) and Associated Co-infections: A Report of Three Cases and Retrospective Chart Review Journal Antibiotics (Basel) Citation 9(11):725 DOI 10.3390/antibiotics9110725 Authors Horowitz RI, Freeman PR Abstract Three patients with multi-year histories of relapsing and remitting Lyme disease and associated co-infections despite extended antibiotic therapy were each given double-dose dapsone combination therapy (DDD CT) for a total of 7-8 weeks. At the completion of therapy, all three patients' major Lyme symptoms remained in remission for a period of 25-30 months. A retrospective chart review of 37 additional patients undergoing DDD CT therapy (40 patients in total) was also performed, which demonstrated tick-borne symptom improvements in 98% of patients, with 45% remaining in remission for 1 year or longer. In conclusion, double-dose dapsone therapy could represent a novel and effective anti-infective strategy in chronic Lyme disease/ post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS), especially in those individuals who have failed regular dose dapsone combination therapy (DDS CT) or standard antibiotic protocols. A randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled trial is warranted to evaluate the efficacy of DDD CT in those individuals with chronic Lyme disease/PTLDS. Keywords: Lyme disease; babesiosis; bartonellosis; dapsone combination therapy (DDS CT); double-dose dapsone combination therapy (DDD CT); florescent in situ hybridization (FISH); persistent infection; post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS). URL Previous https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7690415/ No Review Needed? Next

< Back to Research Top Published Date 12/06/2015 Did Bartonella henselae contribute to the deaths of two veterinarians? Journal BMC Parasites & Vectors Citation Breitschwerdt Parasites & Vectors (2015) 8:317 DOI 10.1186/s13071-015-0920-4 Authors Breitschwerdt EB Abstract Bartonella henselae, a flea-transmitted bacterium, causes chronic, zoonotic, blood stream infections in immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients throughout the world. As an intra-erythrocytic and endotheliotropic bacterium, B. henselae causes a spectrum of symptomatology ranging from asymptomatic bacteremia to fever, endocarditis and death. Veterinary workers are at occupational risk for acquiring bartonellosis. As an emerging, and incompletely understood, stealth bacterial pathogen, B. henselae may or may not have been responsible for the deaths of two veterinarians; however, recent evidence indicates that this genus is of much greater medical importance than is currently appreciated by the majority of the biomedical community. URL Previous https://parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13071-015-0920-4 No Review Needed? Next

< Back to Research Top Published Date 25/08/2014 Cardiac arrest due to torsades de pointes ventricular tachycardia in a patient with Lyme carditis Journal Ugeskriftet Danish Medical Journal Citation Ugeskr Laeger. 2014 Aug 25;176(35) DOI ​ Authors Jensen TB, Dalsgaard D, Johansen JB Abstract A 45-year-old female presented with third degree atrioventricular block and was diagnosed with Lyme carditis. Despite appropriate antibiotic treatment and continuous ventricular pacing, she suffered sudden cardiac arrest due to torsades de pointes ventricular tachycardia. Although rare, severe and potentially fatal ventricular tachyarrhythmias can occur in patients with Lyme borreliosis URL Previous https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25293707 No Review Needed? Next

< Back Defendants settle in Torrey vs. IDSA US Lyme lawsuit LRC 16 Nov 2020 As of 16th November 2020, all eight insurers have now settled in the US lawsuit on Lyme disease, Torrey vs. IDSA et al. The lawsuit was brought by 24 Lyme disease patients in the US against the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), 8 insurance companies, and 6 physicians involved in writing and enforcing the IDSA guidelines. The suit focuses on the denial of longer courses of antibiotics to patients under the IDSA guidelines, which rigidly hold that 10-to-28-day courses almost always eliminate Lyme infection. The patients assert that insurance companies paid key doctors associated with IDSA to develop and enforce care guidelines that sharply limited treatment and drove doctors who treated outside the guidelines out of business. The defendants are: the Infectious Diseases Society of America six physicians (called IDSA panelists): Gary P. Wormser, Raymond J. Dattwyler, John J. Halperin, Eugene Shapiro, Leonard Sigal, and Allen Steere (seventh, Robert Nadelman, died in 2018). the insurers Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Anthem, Inc., Blue Cross And Blue Shield Of Texas, Aetna Inc., Cigna Corporation, Kaiser Permanente, Inc., United Healthcare Services, Inc., and United Healthcare Group, Inc. Of the physicians, Wormser and Dattwyler are first and second authors on the guidelines – last revised in 2006 – and Steere did early investigative work when Lyme disease emerged in Lyme, Connecticut, in the 1970s. The lawsuit contends that: "There is sufficient evidence to establish that the IDSA panelists were paid by, and influenced by, insurance companies.” "A large number of patients, at least 20 percent, do not respond to short-term antibiotic treatment.” “chronic Lyme disease patients who do not respond to short-term antibiotic treatment, and do not receive long-term antibiotic treatment, will suffer debilitating symptoms, will be in constant pain, will be unable to function or live a normal life, and will eventually die from Lyme disease.” We hope this will now allow the mounting emerging science to come to the fore, which undoubtedly shows that standard antibiotics, in particular doxycycline, fail to kill the Lyme spirochete in animal and test-tube experiments. Published research also acknowledges that 10 to 20 percent of early treated patients remain ill under current short-course protocols such as recommended by NICE. Although the insurers have settled, the suit against the other defendants will continue. You can read more information about the lawsuit. Previous Next

< Back to Research Top Published Date 23/02/2011 Distinct cerebrospinal fluid proteomes differentiate post-treatment lyme disease from chronic fatigue syndrome Journal PLoS One Citation PLoS One. 2011 Feb 23;6(2):e17287 DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0017287 Authors Schutzer SE, Angel TE, Liu T, Schepmoes AA, Clauss TR, Adkins JN, Camp DG, Holland BK, Bergquist J, Coyle PK, Smith RD, Fallon BA, Natelson BH Abstract BACKGROUND: Neurologic Post Treatment Lyme disease (nPTLS) and Chronic Fatigue (CFS) are syndromes of unknown etiology. They share features of fatigue and cognitive dysfunction, making it difficult to differentiate them. Unresolved is whether nPTLS is a subset of CFS. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Pooled cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from nPTLS patients, CFS patients, and healthy volunteers were comprehensively analyzed using high-resolution mass spectrometry (MS), coupled with immunoaffinity depletion methods to reduce protein-masking by abundant proteins. Individual patient and healthy control CSF samples were analyzed directly employing a MS-based label-free quantitative proteomics approach. We found that both groups, and individuals within the groups, could be distinguished from each other and normals based on their specific CSF proteins (p<0.01). CFS (n?=?43) had 2,783 non-redundant proteins, nPTLS (n?=?25) contained 2,768 proteins, and healthy normals had 2,630 proteins. Preliminary pathway analysis demonstrated that the data could be useful for hypothesis generation on the pathogenetic mechanisms underlying these two related syndromes. CONCLUSIONS: nPTLS and CFS have distinguishing CSF protein complements. Each condition has a number of CSF proteins that can be useful in providing candidates for future validation studies and insights on the respective mechanisms of pathogenesis. Distinguishing nPTLS and CFS permits more focused study of each condition, and can lead to novel diagnostics and therapeutic interventions. URL Previous https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0017287 No Review Needed? Next

< Back to Research Top Published Date 12/10/2018 Removing the mask of average treatment effects in chronic Lyme disease research using Big Data and subgroup analysis Journal Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) Citation Healthcare (Basel). 2018 Oct 12;6(4). pii: E124 DOI 10.3390/healthcare6040124 Authors Johnson L, Shapiro M, Mankoff J Abstract Lyme disease is caused by the bacteria borrelia burgdorferi and is spread primarily through the bite of a tick. There is considerable uncertainty in the medical community regarding the best approach to treating patients with Lyme disease who do not respond fully to short-term antibiotic therapy. These patients have persistent Lyme disease symptoms resulting from lack of treatment, under-treatment, or lack of response to their antibiotic treatment protocol. In the past, treatment trials have used small restrictive samples and relied on average treatment effects as their measure of success and produced conflicting results. To provide individualized care, clinicians need information that reflects their patient population. Today, we have the ability to analyze large data bases, including patient registries, that reflect the broader range of patients more typically seen in clinical practice. This allows us to examine treatment variation within the sample and identify groups of patients that are most responsive to treatment. Using patient-reported outcome data from the MyLymeData online patient registry, we show that sub-group analysis techniques can unmask valuable information that is hidden if averages alone are used. In our analysis, this approach revealed treatment effectiveness for up to a third of patients with Lyme disease. This study is important because it can help open the door to more individualized patient care using patient-centered outcomes and real-world evidence. URL Previous https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/6/4/124 No Review Needed? Next

< Back to Research Top Published Date 20/03/2019 Presence of Babesia odocoilei and Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Stricto in a Tick and Dual Parasitism of Amblyomma inornatum and Ixodes scapularis on a Bird in Canada Journal Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) Citation Healthcare (Basel). 2019 Mar 20;7(1). pii: E46 DOI 10.3390/healthcare7010046 Authors Scott JD, Clark KL, Durden LA Abstract Wild birds transport ticks into Canada that harbor a diversity of zoonotic pathogens. However, medical practitioners often question how these zoonotic pathogens are present in their locality. In this study, we provide the first report of an Amblyomma inornatum tick cofeeding with a blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis, which parasitized a Veery, Catharus fuscescens-a neotropical songbird. Using the flagellin (flaB) gene of the Lyme disease bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, and the 18S rRNA gene of the Babesia piroplasm, a malaria-like microorganism, we detected Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto and Babesia odocoilei, respectively, in an I. scapularis nymph. After the molt, these ticks can bite humans. Furthermore, this is the first-ever documentation of B. odocoilei in a tick parasitizing a bird. Our findings substantiate the fact that migratory songbirds transport neotropical ticks long distances, and import them into Canada during northward spring migration. Health care practitioners need to be aware that migratory songbirds transport pathogen-laden ticks into Canada annually, and pose an unforeseen health risk to Canadians. URL Previous https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/7/1/46 No Review Needed? Next

< Back to Research Top Published Date 01/12/2011 Pregnant women with erythema migrans and isolation of borreliae from blood: course and outcome after treatment with ceftriaxone Journal Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease Citation Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis . 2011 Dec;71(4):446-8 DOI 10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2011.07.017 Authors Maraspin V, Ruzic-Sabljic E, Pleterski-Rigler D, Strle F Abstract The course and outcome in 7 pregnant European women with erythema migrans and borreliae isolated from blood, treated with intravenous ceftriaxone for 14 days, were uneventful, and the outcome of their pregnancies was good. Spirochetemia was not associated with constitutional symptoms. URL Previous https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21917394/ No Review Needed? Next

< Back to Research Top Published Date 01/05/2019 Erosive vulvovaginitis associated with Borrelia burgdorferi infection Journal Journal of Investigative Medicine High Impact Case Reports Citation J Investig Med High Impact Case Rep. 2019 Jan-Dec;7:2324709619842901 DOI 10.1177/2324709619842901 Authors Fesler MC, Middelveen MJ, Burke JM, Stricker RB Abstract We describe a case of acute erosive vulvovaginitis accompanying Borrelia burgdorferi infection. The patient is a 57-year-old woman previously diagnosed with Lyme disease who presented with a painful erosive genital lesion. At the time of the outbreak, she was being treated with oral antibiotics,and she tested serologically positive for B burgdorferi and serologically negative for syphilis. Histological examination of biopsy tissue from the lesion was not characteristic of dermatopathological patterns typical of erosive vulvar conditions. Dieterle-stained biopsy sections revealed visible spirochetes throughout the stratum spinosum and stratum basale, and anti- B burgdorferi immunostaining was positive. Motile spirochetes were observed by darkfield microscopy and cultured in Barbour-Stoner-Kelly-complete medium inoculated with skin scrapings from the lesion. Cultured spirochetes were identified genetically as B burgdorferi sensu stricto by polymerase chain reaction, while polymerase chain reaction amplification of treponemal gene targets was negative. The condition resolved after treatment with additional systemic antibiotic therapy and topical antibiotics. In cases of genital ulceration that have no identifiable etiology, the possibility of B burgdorferi spirochetal infection should be considered. URL Previous https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2324709619842901 No Review Needed? Next

Our Partnerships The Lyme Resource Centre has formed partnerships with both the “What makes viruses tick” project and "The Conservation Volunteers (TCV)" to assist us in delivering our outdoor awareness objectives. Here is a little more information about our partners. What makes viruses tick? (WMVT) WMVT is a project hosted within the MRC- University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (CVR) by the Brennan Lab . CVR is a research institution with an international reputation for virus research. Relevant research interests include investigating how viruses interact with tick cells and how this interaction influences disease transmission and ultimately human health. The WMVT project is focused on raising awareness of ticks and tick-borne viruses across Scotland. Although Lyme disease is the most common tick borne disease in Scotland, ticks also carry a wide range of other diseases, including viruses. (Tick Borne Encephalitis Virus (TBEV) has recently been detected for the first time in certain areas of the UK.) The project shares LRC’s objective to encourage the public to enjoy the outdoors, but to be aware of the risks of tick-borne diseases. A major aspect of WMVT is public engagement and citizen science, encouraging the public to get involved by reporting tick sightings in order to build a tick map for Scotland. The LRC signs facilitate this by including a QR code which enables the public to easily contribute tick sightings. Submit your tick sighting Feedback from the project team so far: ​ “We're using the data from this map to understand where ticks are being spotted, with multiple actions being taken from this data. We've worked with landowners to cut back vegetation alongside paths, installed interpretation panels alongside our partners TCV Scotland and the Lyme Resource Centre, and shared data with academic partners who are able to use it for future research funding and evidence. Additionally, we are collecting people's stories of their experiences with ticks and tick-borne diseases to understand the level of impact ticks are having across the country.” The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) TCV is a charity which exists to connect people to green spaces to deliver lasting outcomes for both. It supports people to improve their physical and mental health and wellbeing by being outdoors, active and interacting with others through their volunteering and other project activity. TCV works closely with the “What makes viruses tick” project, in particular the development of the tick map for Scotland and are assisting the Lyme Resource Centre with the outdoor signage project - installing LRC signs in outdoor areas popular with the public and where ticks are expected at high density. Signage is installed with the permission of the landowner. Rico Franchi Ambassador A singer/songwriter from Glasgow, Scotland, Rico raises awareness and funding for LRC through his talent as a singer and songwriter. Having battled Lyme disease for over ten years now, he says “I have been fortunate enough to use my music as a vehicle to create awareness and raise funds for Lyme charities. Being such a misunderstood illness, means that people rarely receive the support they need and deserve. It’s a very lonely journey, with many friends and family members often forgetting how ill we are on the inside, because we look well on the outside. We’re forced to smile and push through pain, fatigue and other sinister symptoms because there’s no alternative solution. The unpredictability of flare ups leaves us living in constant fear over what might arise next. We need a voice, and I’m happy and honoured to be part of that voice. Let’s raise more awareness and push harder for answers to help a growing community whose questions need answers.” https://www.youtube.com/RicoFranchimusic https://www.instagram.com/ricotheunknown https://www.facebook.com/ricotheunknown