Draft of report to parliament regarding Bill 442 now online and open to public input.

February 7th, 2017 As per the requirements of Bill 442, An Act respecting a Federal Framework on Lyme Disease Health Canada held a conference on Lyme disease in May of 2016.  It was a well balanced conference that revealed significant divergent opinions among experts on the most important issues to the affected Canadian… diagnosis and treatment. Without…

A technology backed by Bill Gates may revolutionize diagnostics for Lyme disease

Diana Pryor, CNBC news associate   February 7th, 2017 While the medical and health community is putting a spotlight on diseases like Zika, Ebola and tuberculosis, another disease, transmitted by ticks, is getting little notice: Lyme disease. The ticks that carry Lyme disease are spreading rapidly across the U.S. and are now located in nearly half…

Canadian tax payer funded Lyme research not good value for dollar

In December of 2016 a Canadian article was published in PLOS ONE proporting itself as a good systematic review about Lyme disease testing accuracy. CanLyme has been trying to work closely with government on the value of good science as good evidence yet once again the government of Canada has managed to publish low-quality material without…

MicroRNA and mRNA Transcriptome Profiling in Primary Human Astrocytes Infected with Borrelia burgdorferi.

Abstract   Lyme disease is caused by infection with the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb), which is transmitted to humans by deer ticks. The infection manifests usually as a rash and minor systemic symptoms; however, the bacteria can spread to other tissues, causing joint pain, carditis, and neurological symptoms. Lyme neuroborreliosis presents itself in several ways,…

First report of a blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis Say (Acari: Ixodidae), parasitizing a raptor in Canada

Systematic & Applied Acarology 22(2): 208–216 (2017) https://doi.org/10.11158/saa.22.2.5 Abstract We document the first report of a blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis Say, parasitizing an American Kestrel, Falco sparverius Linnaeus (Falconiformes: Falconidae), in Canada. A fully engorged I. scapularis nymph was collected from the base of the tongue of an American Kestrel nestling recovered at Mirabel, Québec….

Antibiotic gel shows promise in preventing onset of Lyme borreliosis following tick bite

December 2016 Topical azithromycin for the prevention of Lyme borreliosis: a randomised, placebo-controlled, phase 3 efficacy trial   An antibiotic gel based on azithromycin, helps with prevention of Lyme disease following a tick bite. That is the finding of a multi-centre international study, in which MedUni Vienna’s Department of Clinical Pharmacology played an important part….

The Lyme disease pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi infects murine bone and induces trabecular bone loss

Tian Tian Tang, Lucia Zhang, Anil Bansal, Marc Grynpas, and Tara J. Moriarty Accepted Manuscript Posted Online 12 December 2016 Infect. Immun. doi:10.1128/IAI.00781-16 Copyright © 2016 Tang et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. ABSTRACT Lyme disease is caused by members of the…

Woman’s Mystery Illness Turns Out to Be Tick-Borne Disease

By Gillian Mohney and Dr. Sabrina Anna Rebis A 66-year-old woman’s mysterious illness that left her feverish and with slurred speech initially stumped her doctors. As the woman’s condition continued to deteriorate, an infectious disease doctor eventually identified the cause — the woman had contracted a bacterial disease caused by a tick bite. Researchers from George…

Tick removal

Even better than tick removal is to AVOID allowing ticks to attach in the first place. Wearing long pants and sleeves, and walking with a friend who can keep an eye on your back means that you have time to see the tick and brush it off before it attaches. Keep switching positions of who…