US Congressional hearing on Lyme disease

LDA participated in a US Congressional hearing on 18th July 2012 : “Global Challenges in Diagnosing and Managing Lyme Disease – Closing Knowledge Gaps”. Witnesses testifying were: Stephen W. Barthold, Distinguished Professor, Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology Center of Comparative Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine University of California, Davis Raphael Stricker, M.D., Vice President, ILADS […]

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2,200 signatures and counting

Lyme disease sufferer Denise Longman launched a petition in April 2010. This is still open and collecting signatures . You can read the detail of the petition and browse other people’s comments. In addition to the on-line signatures nearly 1,000 names have been collected on paper forms by people canvassing friends and relatives. A downloadable form is […]

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Map of Medicine care map for Lyme disease suspended

Map of Medicine (MOM) is a collection of evidence-based, practice-informed care maps which connect all the knowledge and services around a clinical condition. A care map was produced for Lyme disease in January 2010 but at its review date in 2012 a decision was taken not to update it. The reasons given by the production […]

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Lyme disease in the BMJ

The June 23rd edition of the BMJ had a large tick on the cover heralding a couple of articles inside in this week’s Practice section: Tick bite and early Lyme Borreliosis: a 10 minute consultation Lyme neuroborreliosis: a patient’s journey. The 10 minute consultation discussed what steps a doctor should take in investigating a rash […]

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Do repeat courses of antibiotics help?

For Diane in Cornwall, they were essential. Her story is featured in the July issue of Candis magazine, a family magazine that has nearly a quarter of a million paid up subscribers, so will get wide circulation. Diane, a nurse and keen horse rider, was bitten by a tick in April 2011 and developed a rash, […]

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Meeting with the HPA

The functions of the Health protection Agency (HPA) Lyme Borreliosis Unit are being transferred from Southampton to the Rare & Imported Pathogens Laboratory (RIPL)* at HPA Porton which already has considerable experience in testing for other tick borne pathogens, in particular Rickettsia and Coxiella (Q fever). On May 1st two of LDA’s trustees spent a […]

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The challenge for patients

The Netherlands Journal of Medicine has been shining an interesting light on attitudes to Lyme disease: now you see reason; now you don’t. In March 2011 the Netherlands Journal of Medicine published a review (Tired of Lyme borreliosis. Coumou et al) which seemed intended to help Dutch physicians cope with the many people who believe they […]

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All Change

In anticipation of its incorporation into Public Health England, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) has been reviewing its microbiology services and management. As part of the resulting re-organisation the functions of the Lyme Borreliosis Unit are being moved to the Special Pathogens Reference Unit at Porton which already provides reference services for a number of […]

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A plea from across the pond for research into chronic Lyme

Chronic Lyme Disease: It’s Time to Solve the Medical Mystery Inside an Enigma. This well-written and moderate article from the US, seeking research into the unknown areas of optimum length of treatment, best drugs to use and so on, caught our eye precisely because it was so well written and moderate, despite the writer experiencing […]

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Immune response develops in waves

How do we know how the immune response develops in untreated patients? It is generally said that after a tick bite, the IgM response develops first, followed by the IgG response. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) states “The chances of a positive test in early infection range from about 30% in the first two weeks […]

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