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New Podcast: Continuing medical education for physicians

As Dr. Maloney says, “Research is our way out of this.” This is our kind of expert leading the way in the field. In today’s podcast, Sarah explores a comprehensive (and free!) online education program designed for healthcare professionals, which was founded by Lyme disease expert, Dr. Betty Maloney. Listen to podcast

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New Podcast: Dr. Theoharis Theoharides, Professor of Immunology at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston.

Welcome back! Season 2 of the Looking at Lyme podcast starts now. Dr. Theoharides has been on the leading edge of mast cell research and recounts the fascinating history and physiology of mast cells. Mast cells have existed for over a hundred million years in many different animals and organisms and are found in all…

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Borrelia burgdorferi-Induced Changes in the Class II Self-Immunopeptidome Displayed on HLA-DR Molecules Expressed by Dendritic Cells

September 2020 The MHC class II antigen processing and presentation pathway has evolved to derive short amino acid peptides from proteins that enter the endocytic pathway, load them onto MHC class II molecules and display them on the surface of antigen presenting cells for recognition by CD4+ T cells. Under normal circumstances, peptides bound to MHC…

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Phase 4 Block of the Right Bundle Branch Suggesting His-Purkinje System Involvement in Lyme Carditis

[CanLyme Note: As new research unfolds we are discovering that borrelia other than Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) are pathogenic to humans.  Much research is required to garner a broader understanding of cardiovascular and other system involvement and presentation.  Testing currently is too focused on Bb and even with that it has many limitations and inaccuracies resulting in many…

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Canada’s CTV investigative reporting show W5 explores Lyme disease: Bitten

Nov. 21, 2020 W5 TV show delves into Lyme disease and the lack of proper diagnostics and treatment in Canada. Patients stories are told and important issues are discussed that can affect most Canadians either by themselves, family or friends in the coming years. Watch Bitten

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The Lyme Education, Awareness, and Prevention (LEAP) team announces the release of the first draft of the Educators’ Resource for Lyme Awareness.

The Lyme Education, Awareness, and Prevention (LEAP) team announces the release of the first draft of the Educators’ Resource for Lyme Awareness. Visit our website at https://www.lookingatlyme.ca/resource/ to check it out. This resource has been developed with education and prevention in mind for students in the middle school grades. Through scientific lesson plans, students learn how to…

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Promising treatment brings new hope for patients with chronic Lyme disease

Nov. 20, 2020 KENDAL, ONT. — Kevin Matthews was a healthy 58 year old trying to ease into a slower lifestyle, but things took a turn on a trip in 2017. That was the year he was hunting near Kingston, Ont. and was bitten by a tick. He recalls extracting the arthropod from his stomach,…

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Evaluation of pathogen specific urinary peptides in tick-borne illnesses

Abstract Mass spectrometry enhanced by nanotechnology can achieve previously unattainable sensitivity for characterizing urinary pathogen-derived peptides. We utilized mass spectrometry enhanced by affinity hydrogel particles (analytical sensitivity = 2.5 pg/mL) to study tick pathogen-specific proteins shed in the urine of patients with (1) erythema migrans rash and acute symptoms, (2) post treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS), and (3)…

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Canada: Microbiome Composition and Borrelia Detection in Ixodes scapularis Ticks at the Northwestern Edge of Their Range

Abstract Lyme disease-causing Borrelia burgdorferi has been reported in 10–19% of Ixodes ticks from Alberta, Canada, where the tick vector Ixodes scapularis is at the northwestern edge of its range. However, the presence of Borrelia has not been verified independently, and the bacterial microbiome of these ticks has not been described. We performed 16S rRNA bacterial surveys on female I. scapularis from Alberta that were…

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New Podcast: Lyme: the First Epidemic of Climate Change

“In today’s podcast, Sarah talks about ticks, Lyme disease and climate change with investigative reporter Mary Beth Pfeiffer. She lives in New York State, an area of the US which is highly endemic for Lyme disease, and has been investigating this disease for the past eight years. Her search for answers revealed that there was…

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New podcast: Wilderness first aid training and Lyme prevention

“In today’s podcast, Sarah examines the importance of adequate training in wilderness first aid skills. She speaks with expert Michael Crawford, an instructor at Slipstream Wilderness First Aid in Victoria, BC. Michael points out some of the differences between regular first aid and wilderness first aid. Anyone performing first aid on a patient in a…

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Will this latest Canadian research change the paradigm of testing and lab diagnostics for Lyme disease globally?

Abstract Serological diagnosis of Lyme disease suffers from considerable limitations. Yet, the technique cannot currently be replaced by direct detection methods, such as bacterial culture or molecular analysis, due to their inadequate sensitivity. The low bacterial burden in vasculature and lack of consensus around blood-based isolation of the causative pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi, are central to this…

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View public comments given to the USA Tick-Borne Disease Working Group (TBDWG)

[CanLyme Note: In the comments of the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) they state,”IDSA continues to advocate for utilizing the best available scientific evidence ” and “While we recognize debate on this subject, we request that any proposed new language reflects the best available data.” The IDSA has routinely ignored, maligned, massaged, and misrepresented…

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YebC regulates variable surface antigen VlsE expression and is required for host immune evasion in Borrelia burgdorferi

Oct. 2020 PLOS PATHOGENS Abstract Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease pathogen causes persistent infection by evading the host immune response. Differential expression of the surface-exposed lipoprotein VlsE that undergoes antigenic variation is a key immune evasion strategy employed by B. burgdorferi. Most studies focused on the mechanism of VlsE antigen variation, but little is known…