Detecting Borrelia Spirochetes: A Case Study With Validation Among Autopsy Specimens

ByCanlyme

The complex etiology of neurodegenerative disease has prompted studies on multiple mechanisms including genetic predisposition, brain biochemistry, immunological responses, and microbial insult. In particular, Lyme disease is often associated with neurocognitive impairment with variable manifestations between patients. We sought to develop methods to reliably detect Borrelia burgdorferi, the spirochete bacteria responsible for Lyme disease, in autopsy…

Alzheimer Plaques visualized by in situ DNA Hybridization with Molecular Beacons specific for Borrelia – a novel histomorphologic application

ByCanlyme

Abstract Background: This case describes a novel application of Molecular Beacons, which are a patented technology, for the detection of DNA in tissue sections from an infectious microbe, namely Borrelia burgdorferi, the etiologic agent of Lyme borreliosis. A 65-year-old man with Alzheimer’s disease and previously well documented spinal fluid neuroborreliosis eight years prior to death…

New Podcast: Tick testing, active surveillance, and participatory science, with Dr. Vett Lloyd from Mount Allison University

ByCanlyme

This week, we are very excited to speak with one of Canada’s foremost tick and Lyme disease researchers, Dr. Vett Lloyd, who heads up a dynamic research team at Mount Allison University in Sackvillle, New Brunswick. Her curiosity, passion for community and collaboration and sense of humour have endeared her to her colleagues and her…

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

ByCanlyme

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…

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

ByCanlyme

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…

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

ByCanlyme

[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…

Evaluation of pathogen specific urinary peptides in tick-borne illnesses

ByCanlyme

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)…

Public Health Agency of Canada receives critical review of revisions to Lyme information on their publicly funded website.

ByCanlyme

September 4, 2020 This critique is a collaborative effort of several groups/organizations that represent Canadians living Lyme disease in response to PHAC’s call for feedback. This was our response to the request for input of the Public Health Agency of Canada. The final decisions on the content which will be incorporated currently lie with unknown…

Active surveillance of pathogens from ticks collected in New York State suburban parks and schoolyards

ByCanlyme

First published: 22 July 2020 Abstract   Schoolyards and suburban parks are two environments where active tick surveillance may inform local management approaches. Even in a state such as New York with a robust active tick surveillance programme operated by the state Department of Health, these settings are not routinely covered. The goal of this…

Unravelling the mystery of Lyme disease: Why Canada needs to do more

ByCanlyme

Rian Michelsen is a rising star. Fifteen years ago, he was the toddler who burst out from behind the curtains singing Elvis’ Viva Las Vegas. As a young boy, he played the lead role in Oliver in his birthplace of Bermuda, before moving with his family to Toronto five years ago. Now, as a 17 year-old high school…

WSU researchers crack the Lyme disease code

ByCanlyme

The next time a tick feeds on you, Washington State University researchers hope to make sure persistent arthritis caused by Lyme disease doesn’t linger for a lifetime. Troy Bankhead, associate professor in WSU’s Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology department, and his team have spent more than a decade analyzing an immune evasive protein of Borrelia burgdorferi,…

Canadian MP Len Webber addresses Minister of Health on Lyme disease

ByCanlyme

Minister of Health Patty Hajdu readily admits there is “still lots to learn” about treatment of Lyme disease but as typical opts to keep sick people sick without options of extended antibiotic treatment that has helped hundreds of thousands of people who had to leave Canada for help. Instead she wants more research, none of…

Canadian has brain of 70-year-old after ‘flawed’ test let disease go undiagnosed for years

ByCanlyme

March 11th, 2018 TORONTO — A young Canadian woman has been left with the brain of a 70-year-old after suffering from Lyme disease for more than seven years without treatment because she says tests failed to give her a proper diagnosis. St. Catharines, Ont., woman Nikki Kent was bitten by a tick in 2013 at…