lyme disease

Characteristics of B. burgdorferi

• Strictly host-associated

• Diderm/ has inner and outer membrane , no LPS

• Limited genomic size (~1.3 mB)

• No iron!

• Obligate extracellular pathogen

• Aerotolerant anaerobe

• Makes ATP through glycolysis and lactate fermentation

• fastidious organism

B. burgdorferi enzootic cycle

naive larvae infect animals usually infect animals like mice/rat the larvae them molt and can either infect humans or another animal then the larvae turns into a an adult and continues to infects animal like deers

what is Most common vector-borne disease in the United States

and Europe

lyme disease

how many cases per year for lyme disease

476000 cases per year

lyme disease symptoms

Fever, chills, headache, fatigue, muscle/joint aches, swollen

lymph nodes

lyme disease signs

• Erythema migrans – bullseye rash (Not always present (~80% cases in the US)

• Arthritis

• Unilateral or bilateral palsy

• Carditis- heart disease usually why people die from lyme disease

diagnosis if a patient is from an endemic area . . .

• Tick bite

• EM lesion

diagnosis If a patient is from a nonendemic area . . .

• Monitor for disease progression

• If the disease progresses, test for Lyme disease

why is testing for lyme disease controversial

the standard antibody-based tests' limitations, such as low accuracy early in an infection, potential for false positives or negatives, and difficulty detecting various strains

• and for antibody test it takes a long time cause antibodies have to be formed

problems with lyme disease testing

• False positives

• False negatives

• Approved tests are based on serology (presence of antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi)

• No approved direct molecular tests (such as PCR)

• This is because the bacteria does not stay in the blood

ixodes ticks in the us can transmit up to

3 different borrelia species

sensitivity vs specificity of lyme disease test

sensitivity is not that good

specificity is good

best treatment drug for lyme disease

doxycycline

Post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome

when the patient no longer has the disease (Borrelia burgdorferi) but will have prolonged symptoms from having lyme disease

is there a cure for Lyme disease

no vaccine for humans but for dogs

best way to prevent lyme disease

prevent tick bites