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

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…

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Manitoba: ‘Virtual clinic’ of specialists focused on Lyme disease diagnosis, treatment expected to open early next year

[CanLyme Note: Patient representatives and their experts have been directly involved in the set up for this project in Manitoba so we are very hopeful this can evolve into a model of care Canada-wide that is so desperately needed.] November 11th, 2019 Program will connect primary health providers, patients to specialists to help treat tick-borne illnesses…

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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…

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Lyme disease in Saskatchewan ticks, and dog ticks can infect Borrelia miyamotoi.

The vast majority of ticks found in Saskatchewan are Dermacentor variabilis (American dog tick), a species not known to be a competent vector of typical Lyme borreliosis (Borrelia burrgdorferi s.l.) to humans.  However, recently Borrelia miyamotoi has been found in Canadian ticks coast to coast. Also, this from Manitoba, Saskatchewan’s next door neighbour. Borrelia miyamotoi causes similar disease in humans…

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Borrelia miyamotoi rash is breaking the myth that rashes caused by borreliosis (Lyme disease) must expand beyond 5 cm.

Canada has Borrelia miyamotoi and other borrelia from coast to coast. The standard guidelines imposed on doctors state myths about rashes that science has shown us are not correct… The guidelines state that 60-80% of people will get a rash, NOT TRUE  Only a small subset of the borrelia bacteria will cause any rash. Rashes…

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The Need for Clinical Judgment in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Lyme Disease

Abstract Clinical practice guidelines are increasing in number. Unfortunately, when scientific evidence is uncertain, limited, or evolving, as is often the case, conflict often arises between guideline committees and practicing physicians, who bear the direct responsibility for the care of individual patients. The 2006 Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines for Lyme disease, which have…

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Identification of Additional Anti-Persister Activity against Borrelia burgdorferi from an FDA Drug Library

Sept, 2015 Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA Abstract   Lyme disease is a leading vector-borne disease in the United States. Although the majority of Lyme patients can be cured with standard 2–4 week antibiotic treatment, 10%–20% of patients continue to suffer from…

Invariant natural killer T cells act as an extravascular cytotoxic barrier for joint-invading Lyme Borrelia

Maria-Jesus Sanz, Connie H. Y. Wong, Pierre-Olivier Hardy, Aydan Salman-Dilgimen, Tara J. Moriart, George Chaconas, Adriana Marques, Roman Krawetz, Christopher H. Mody, Paul Kubes Abstract CXCR6-GFP+ cells, which encompass 70% invariant natural killer T cells (iNKT cells), have been found primarily patrolling inside blood vessels in the liver. Although the iNKT cells fail to interact with…

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Remarkable diversity of tick or mammalian-associated Borreliae in the metropolitan San Francisco Bay Area, California

Natalia Fedorova, Joyce E. Kleinjan, David James, Lucia T. Hui, Hans Peeters, Robert S. Lane Abstract The diversity of Lyme disease (LD) and relapsing fever (RF)-group spirochetes in the metropolitan San Francisco Bay area in northern California is poorly understood. We tested Ixodes pacificus, I. spinipalpis, and small mammals for presence of borreliae in Alameda…

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First detection of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato DNA in king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus halli).

Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases, Available online 20 August 2014. Abstract The hard tick Ixodes uriae parasitises a wide range of seabird species in the circumpolar areas of both Northern and Southern hemispheres and has been shown to be infected with Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, the bacterial agents of Lyme borreliosis. Although it is assumed that seabirds…

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The prevalence of Borrelia miyamotoi infection, and co-infections with other Borrelia spp. in Ixodes scapularis ticks collected in Canada

Antonia Dibernardo, Tyler Cote, Nicholas H Ogden and L Robbin Lindsay Published: 15 April 2014 Abstract (provisional) Background Blacklegged ticks, Ixodes scapularis are vectors of the tick-borne pathogens Borrelia  burgdorferi, Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Babesia microti. Recently, the I. scapularis-borne   bacterium Borrelia miyamotoi has been linked to human illness in North America. The range of this tick is…

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National Post : Child arthritis cases spike as Lyme disease pushes further into Canada

[CanLyme note: A comment that was in the print version of the National Post newspaper has been edited out of the online version, it followed this quote…. “The majority of children … never knew they were bitten by a tick. Arthritis was the very first presenting symptom of their Lyme disease,” said Dr. Elizabeth Stringer, a…

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Tick-borne Pathogens in Northwestern California, USA [ B. miyamotoi is as abundant as its congener B. burgdorferi but is not tested for in humans ]

Daniel J. Salkeld , Stephanie Cinkovich, and Nathan C. Nieto To the Editor: In northwestern California, USA, the western black-legged tick, Ixodes pacificus, is a known vector ofBorrelia burgdorferi, the spirochete that causes Lyme disease.B. miyamotoi, which is more closely related to spirochetes that cause relapsing fever, has also been detected in 2 locations in California (1,2) and has…