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Nova Scotia’s top doctor takes heat over retweet dismissing chronic Lyme disease

[CanLyme Note: Once you read this article you will see that the Nova Scotia Minister of Health chimed in with the usual pre-formatted line that the province follows evidence-based guidelines. For research and science to become evidence, it requires transparent debate with stakeholders. There is no more important stakeholder in health care than the sick patient…

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Lyme advocates say Canada offers “toxic tokenism” to patients

The Canadian government recently announced new investment in Lyme disease research. However, Canadian Lyme advocates fear that the patient voice will be excluded from the decision-making process. In the following article, the Canadian Lyme Consortium (CLC)–made up of advocates, patients, researchers and practitioners–offers background and context. By Vett Lloyd, PhD; Liz Zubek, MD, CCFP FCFP; Sue Faber and Jennifer Kravis,…

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CTV’s Avis Favaro “Mothers on a mission to prove Lyme disease can be passed to unborn child”

“These mothers and their kids struggled for years with severe dizziness, pain, digestive problems, infections and impaired motor function that doctors couldn’t diagnose. Some were bedridden. One teen boy missed his entire high school education. One family was even close to committing their daughter to an institution because doctors believed her symptoms to be psychosomatic….

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Lyme Encephalopathy: Impact on Quality of Life

B.L. Goldklang (1), S.S. Festa (1), and J.S. Hason (1,2). Lyme Disease Coalition of New York and Connecticut, Katonah, NY, USA (1); Arthritis Foundation, Long Island, NY, USA (2). Lyme encephalopathy has been defined in the medical literature as a “mild confusional state” characterized by subtle disturbances in memory, mood, and sleep.1’3 To patients with…

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Establishment of a continuous in vitro culture of Babesia duncani in human erythrocytes reveals unusually high tolerance to recommended therapies. [ie Mepron not too effective?]

November 21st, 2018 Abstract Human babesiosis is an emerging tick-borne disease caused by apicomplexan parasites of the genus Babesia. Clinical cases caused by Babesia duncani have been associated with high parasite burden, severe pathology and death. In both mice and hamsters, the parasite causes uncontrolled fulminant infections, which ultimately lead to death. Resolving these infections requires knowledge of B. duncani biology, virulence,…

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Evaluating polymicrobial immune responses in patients suffering from tick-borne diseases

October 29 2018, Garga K et al There is insufficient evidence to support screening of various tick-borne diseases (TBD) related microbes alongside Borrelia in patients suffering from TBD. To evaluate the involvement of multiple microbial immune responses in patients experiencing TBD we utilized enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Four hundred and thirty-two human serum samples organized into…

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Canadian government asked by international Health Equity committee to reverse secretive, harmful, and unethical interference that will affect mothers and children worldwide.

December 22, 2018 Dear Prime Minister Trudeau, Honorable Minister Ginette Petitpas-Taylor, Honorable Minister Jody Wilson-Rebould, Dr. Mithani, Dr. Tam, Honorable Andrew Scheer, Elizabeth May and Jagmeet Singh and Kimberly Elmslie, I am the Director of the Ad Hoc Committee for Health Equity in ICD11 Borreliosis Codes (or Ad Hoc Committee). The Ad Hoc Committee is…

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Doctors, public left in the dark on danger to babies – Chronicle Herald

Published in the Chronicle Herald newspaper December 21, 2018 by Jane Bailey The following statement is false. You can only get Lyme disease from a black-legged tick. The next two statements are true. You can pass Lyme disease to your unborn baby. Your baby can suffer very serious adverse outcomes, including from miscarriage, stillbirth, and…

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Toronto Star: Everything about Lyme disease is steeped in controversy. Now some doctors are too afraid to treat patients

[CanLyme Note: In the below article there are outrageous, disgraceful, and dangerous comments by Tara Moriarty and Todd Hatchette. Tara says a study showed labs returning 60% false positive test results which is simply not true, or in other words, a blatant lie. That study was not powered to determine true positive or negative results. The…

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Learning From Patients’ Experiences Related To Diagnostic Errors Is Essential For Progress In Patient Safety

Health Affairs : Nov 2108 10.1377/hlthaff.2018.0698 HEALTH AFFAIRS 37, NO. 11 (2018): 1821–1827 ABSTRACT Diagnostic error research has largely focused on individual clinicians’ decision making and system design, while overlooking information from patients. We analyzed a unique new data source of patient- and family-reported error narratives to explore factors that contribute to diagnostic errors. From…

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‘Every season is tick season’: Experts warn of winter Lyme disease risk

People have ‘let their guard down’ and aren’t checking for ticks as weather cools, says zoologist   Laurenne Schiller loves taking her dog Cousteau for walks along Halifax trails as the weather cools. But even after the first dusting of snow this week, each walk finishes with a head-to-toe check for blacklegged ticks on her…

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Symptoms of Ehrlichiosis [with treatment recommendations]

Nov 26th, 2018 “Patients with ehrlichiosis (regardless of the putative organism) clinically present with fever, chills, severe headache, confusion, malaise, nausea, vomiting, and generalized body aches. Respiratory symptoms such as cough may also be observed, but they are more common in adults than in  children. Symptoms are typically seen one to two weeks following a…

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Epidemiology of Ehrlichiosis, Anaplasmosis [Can be coinfection with other tick borne disease(s) or stand alone infections]

Nov 26th, 2018 Ehrlichiosis “Ehrlichiosis is a disease caused by several Gram-negative obligate intracellular bacteria that are transmitted by a tick vector. The frequency of ehrlichiosis is increasing, which is ascribed to the increased awareness and diagnostic availability, as well as the expansion of regions populated with the most common tick vector – Amblyomma americanum (also known…

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Halifax: Unconscious Collective Vocal Ensemble (UCVE) to stage two performances to raise funds for CanLyme

Nov 24, 2018 Save the dates!! For a truly unique experience that you will love come and see the Unconscious Collective Vocal Ensemble (UCVE). They will be putting on two performances in the KTS Red Room, University of King’s College in Halifax… 7 PM Friday the 30th of November (18-11-30) 7 PM Saturday December 1st, 2018 (18-12-01) Bring your family…