Category Archives: Research

CanLyme is dedicated to promoting advancements in Lyme disease research. More research is needed to accurately diagnose and treat Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses and CanLyme has taken measures to address this, see our Venture Grants Policy.

CanLyme board member Reuben Kaufman, PhD has an ambitious tick study project underway on Salt Spring Island, BC and his program is also able to feed ticks to another CanLyme board member Janet Sperling who is completing her doctorate on examining the various pathogens that are found in the guts of Canadian ticks.
The articles and abstracts below have primarily been sourced from: PubMed.gov or the individual journals in which they were published. Please click the PubMed or journal link to read the whole article on their site.

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Recent in: Research

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

John D. Scott, Kerry L. Clark  and Lance A. Durden  published 20 March 2019 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, Continues →

Lyme disease study raises possibility of mother-to-baby transmission

Andrew Rankin (arankin@herald.ca)  May 15th, 2019 A scientist who co-authored a recent Public Health Agency of Canada study on the impact of Lyme disease during pregnancy says the illness can have fatal consequences for a developing fetus if the mother goes untreated. “Miscarriage, newborn death, and newborns with respiratory problems or jaundice have been found to occur,” said American epidemiologist Alison Continues →

Study of pediatric patients shows two-tier testing results cannot rule out Lyme borreliosis.

Two-Tier Lyme Disease Serology Test Results Can Vary According to the Specific First-Tier Test Used Published: February 22, 2019 Abstract Background Variability in 2-tier Lyme disease test results according to the specific first-tier enzyme immunoassay (EIA) in children has not been examined rigorously. In this study, we compared paired results of clinical 2-tier Lyme disease tests to those of the Continues →

CDC Endorsement of Single Dose Antibiotic for Lyme Disease Prevention Challenged

Advocates claim policy harms patients and violates HHS standards for information quality Washington, DC – WEBWIRE – Tuesday, February 19, 2019 Advocates for Lyme disease patients are calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to withdraw its endorsement of single-dose antibiotic prophylaxis for prevention of Lyme disease after a tick bite. A key limitation of the recommendation Continues →

Latest research shows Canada’s decision to fund only one large national Lyme research conglomerate goes against creation of new ideas.

[CanLyme Note: Even worse is that the 4 million tax payer dollars given to the conglomerate, Canadian Lyme Disease Research Network (CLyDRN), is now controlled by members of the anti-science/ethics private group the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease of Canada (AMMI) which is the puppet arm of the highly controversial Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA). Most of the Continues →

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, co-founders, LymeHope; Janet Sperling, CanLyme; Linda Kelso, Continues →

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 this syndrome, however, this mild Continues →

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, and susceptibility to  antiinfectives, but Continues →

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 seven categories followed Centers for Continues →

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 reports of adverse medical events Continues →

Detection of tick-borne infection in Morgellons disease patients by serological and molecular techniques

Marianne J Middelveen, Iris Du Cruz, Melissa C Fesler, Raphael B Stricker, Jyotsna S Shah 1Atkins Veterinary Services, Calgary, AB, Canada; 2IGeneX Laboratories, Palo Alto, CA, USA; 3Union Square Medical Associates, San Francisco, CA, USA Background: Morgellons disease (MD) is a skin condition associated with Lyme disease (LD) and tick-borne illness. Patients with this skin disorder experience ulcerative lesions that contain multicolored filamentous collagen and keratin inclusions. Continues →

Tick-borne disease is multiple microbial in nature

Nov. 1, 2018 A study recently published in Scientific Reports discovered that 65% of Lyme disease patients irrespective of their disease stage respond to several microbes. As a consequence, the authors have demonstrated that microbial infections in individuals suffering from Lyme disease do not follow the “one microbe, one disease” status-quo. Moreover, the probability that Lyme disease patients would respond Continues →

Mount Allison University’s Lyme Research Network presents their 2017 – 2018 report on research funded by the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation

Another successful year building capacity and knowledge within the Canadian science community. These funded students will be our near-future experts. “Overview On May 2017, Mount Allison University announced the formation of the Mount Allison Lyme Research Network, formed with support of the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation. This network consists of 14 researchers united to provide a comprehensive approach to Lyme Continues →

Canadian Lyme disease patient groups united in rejecting the ‘one research network only’ concept of the federal government

[CanLyme Note: There is already another pan-Canadian research network that has been up and running for over a year, the Canadian Lyme Consortium. This network works closely with the patient groups together with physicians and scientists and has from it’s formation.] Joint press release “Lyme patient groups from across Canada are unified in their concern over the federal Minister of Health’s Continues →

Genome-wide analysis of Borrelia turcica and ‘Candidatus Borrelia tachyglossi’ shows relapsing fever-like genomes with unique genomic links to Lyme disease Borrelia.

doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2018.09.013 September 18, 2018 ABSTRACT Borrelia are tick-borne bacteria that in humans are the aetiological agents of Lyme disease and relapsing fever. Here we present the first genomes of B. turcica and B. tachyglossi, members of a recently described and rapidly expanding Borrelia clade associated with reptile (B. turcica) or echidna (B. tachyglossi) hosts, transmitted by hard ticks, and Continues →