5 THIS FRIDAY: Lyme Disease chat with Dr. Lawrence Zemel and Dr. Daniel Cameron

Well. This could get interesting? If you're awake and in the right time zone, this Friday, July 1 at 12 pm (EST) there will be a live online chat between the IDSA's Dr. Lawrence Zemel and ILADS' Dr. Daniel Cameron. From the Hartford Courant: Chronic Lyme disease: Does it exist and should it be treated with long-term antibiotics? Join us for a live chat Friday, July 1 at noon EST (11 am CST, 10 am MST, 9 am PST) about Lyme disease, including the controversial issue of whether patients should be treated with long-term antibiotics for chronic...

Read More

19 Commentary: A Letter From The CDC To Lyme Patients

I came across this letter online. Presumably, it was a letter in response to a letter from a patient with Lyme disease/Post Lyme Syndrome sent to the CDC - but there is no identifying information on the email, and I do not have any verification of its origin. However, I want to post it along with a few comments, taking it at face value that it is what it appears to be and is real. I have some questions to ask on the content as well as some criticisms about it. If this were an actual letter I had received from the CDC, I would have been disappointed...

Read More

3 Can a computer more accurately diagnose Lyme disease than a human?

I came across this article earlier today, though so far I haven't seen mention of it in the Lyme disease community. (It was published earlier this month, though, so I might have missed it.) The article, "Just Months After Jeopardy!, Watson Wows Doctors With Medical Knowledge" is about how a computer can make connections between seemingly unrelated symptoms to determine a patient's diagnosis. In this case, the following scenario and outcome was presented: "The trainee was sequentially presented the details of a fictitious patient: there’s an eye...

Read More

6 Dr. Elizabeth Maloney On The IDSA Lyme Disease Guidelines

Recently, a commenter on Dr. Galland's article shared this link with me on one doctor's analysis of the 2006 IDSA Lyme disease panel guidelines. Link source: http://www.peh-med.com/content/5/1/9/comments (In reference to Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine 2010, 5:9 doi:10.1186/1747-5341-5-9) I wanted to post Dr. Maloney's comment in its entirety here, for your review and consideration. You can also see a 20 minute video presentation she did on ILADS containing this analysis: http://www.ilads.org/lyme_disease/media/lyme_video_maloney.html I...

Read More

0 News Article: Ticks, Squirrels, Lizards, and Spirochetes.

While googling for Lyme disease related news to post, I came across this article - if you live on the west coast of the United States, it may be of interest to you. It's an article about Dr. Robert Lane's studies on Lyme disease vectors. You may have heard about Dr. Lane's studies on western fence lizards and how they have proteins in their blood that stops Borrelia burgdorferi in its tracks. Well, there is some mention of that older research in this article - but there is also new research on western gray squirrels as the primary reservoir...

Read More

0 BBC Article On Assessing Risk (Cellphones, Carcinogens, & Others)

This isn't about Lyme disease and tickborne infections, but it is definitely food for thought when considering the risk involved in any action you decide to take. Check this article out: Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13886254 Summary Teaser: BBC News - Go Figure: Do we understand 'risk' of mobile phone use? What should we make of recent news reports speculating about whether mobile phones cause cancer? It's all about how we deal with uncertainty, says Michael Blastland in his regular Go Figure column. I highly recommend reading...

Read More

0 Blog Log: My Lyme Disease Story

I wanted to point out a relatively new Lyme disease blog on the block, My Lyme Disease Story. The author has been a practicing MD who was bitten by a tick somewhere inside of Yosemite in 2010, developed the EM rash and other symptoms, was undertreated, and eventually sought the care of an LLMD. I usually don't write much about personal blogs, tending to focus on science-oriented ones instead - but this is a rare occasion to see how a doctor approaches the same conditions and illnesses their patients must face. So far, she is facing Lyme disease...

Read More

16 Comments On the Huffington Post - Dr. Leo Galland

I didn't want Dr. Galland's recent efforts to go unnoticed at the Huffington Post, so I posted him a little comment: "Dr. Galland, Thank you for an informativ­e post that outlines some of the symptoms of Lyme disease as well as facts about its transmissi­on and difficulti­es in testing for it. I really appreciate­, too, that you have offered a list of citations for people to read to get more informatio­n. I've had persisting symptoms related to LD and other coinfectio­ns. Looking back on it, I can't help but think that my current situation...

Read More

2 Media Watch: Lyme Disease in Huffington Post & Baltimore Sun

CC Photo Credit: debwire The past couple of days have seen the publication of two opinion pieces on Lyme disease online: Dan Rodricks' commentary, "MPT airing deeply flawed film about Lyme disease", published June 19 in The Baltimore Sun (121 comments and counting), and Leo Galland, MD's, "Lyme Disease Symptoms:Key Facts About This Mysterious Illness", published June 18 in The Huffington Post (278 comments and counting). The first article is an op-ed piece about how the film, Under Our Skin, was pulled off the air and not shown by one PBS...

Read More

0 Paper: Borrelia burgdorferi RST1 (OspC Type A) Genotype Is Associated with Greater Inflammation and More Severe Lyme Disease.

This one is from Steere and company... check it out. Source link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21641395 Borrelia burgdorferi RST1 (OspC Type A) Genotype Is Associated with Greater Inflammation and More Severe Lyme Disease. Strle K, Jones KL, Drouin EE, Li X, Steere AC. Am J Pathol. 2011 Jun;178(6):2726-39. Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology, the Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. Abstract Evidence is emerging for differential pathogenicity...

Read More

1 Paper: Fluorescent Bead-Based Multiplex Assay (For Detection of Bb Antibodies)

I was originally going to write on a paper on Borrelia burgdorferi and lymphadenopathy that has been making the rounds, but the following link was sent to me and I think it deserves more immediate attention: http://ahdc.vet.cornell.edu/docs/Scopes_2011_02.pdf Following this link, on page 6 of the document is an interview with Dr. Bettina Wagner, Assistant Professor of Equine Health at Cornell University, on the use of a Lyme disease blood test for dogs which is more accurate than earlier tests. The test uses a technology known as bead-based...

Read More

5 Admin Update: Health Report

Been away from writing for the blog for a week, other than adding a few blogs and web sites to the right column of this page and responding to a few comments. Just haven't been feeling my best - though over the past several months, my symptoms have been milder than usual and I was hopeful my last run of antimicrobials did a lot of good. But last week, something new and annoying: Stabbing pain in my back and side, pain radiating down into my groin, fevers that come and go, and relentless nausea and lightheaded dizzyness from not being able to...

Read More

5 Admin Update: Sick / Spam Notice

CO is feeling pretty sick today, and hasn't exactly been doing great for the past couple of days. Needs to get doctor's appointment soon - may not be Lyme-related issue but something else requiring attention. Sparing you the details for now. Feel free to read through archives here and leave comments/questions, but can't guarantee how quickly there will be a response. General note: All comments regarding selling of  any service or product etc. will be deleted immediately. This is in response to the recent comment I received from a chiropractic...

Read More

1 I've Got You... Under My Skin

There you folks go. Seriously, if you stopped for just one moment and responded to the naysayer's comments with evidence, then the conversation might be more productive... Exchange online, identities removed and exact words modified because they aren't necessary to make the point - and besides, one was anonymous, anyway: Party A:  "I was not impressed by this movie. It is a rant against Big everything. There's no explanation of what is wrong with the guidelines. I'd like to see LLMDs explain what chronic Lyme disease is, explain which...

Read More

2 Paper: 2006 Lyme Disease Guidelines

Okay. So, let's take a look at these guidelines that so many Lyme disease patients have been talking about. The 2006 Lyme Disease Guidelines (IDSA) can be found here (full text): http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/43/9/1089.full I'm going to be asking questions and making comments on different sections. Be prepared for some jumping around... "Late Lyme Disease Lyme arthritis. Lyme arthritis can usually be treated successfully with antimicrobial agents administered orally. Doxycycline (100 mg twice per day) (B-I), amoxicillin (500 mg...

Read More

10 Video: Tick Removal

I've been spending some time today looking for good videos on how to properly remove a tick and also what tools are best to have in your toolkit. I've seen some really, really bad videos. Some American guy removing a tick from his leg when drunk (no, he did not do a good job) and some Australian guy removing a tick from his abdomen starting with spraying insect spray on the embedded tick. As a reminder to those reading along: Do NOT spray or ignite ticks with insect spray and/or a flamethrower when removing them, especially while intoxicated...

Read More