LymeNet Flash: Lyme and co-infections: global challenges in the context of a public health threat.

LymeNet on Facebook

LymeNet on Twitter

Follow @LymeDiseaseNet

The Lyme Disease Network receives a commission from Amazon.com for each purchase originating from this site.

When purchasing from Amazon.com, please
click here first.

Thank you.

Dedicated to the Bachmann Family

LymeNet needs your help:
LymeNet 2020 fund drive

The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations.

»	LymeNet Flash » Questions and Discussion » Medical Questions » Lyme and co-infections: global challenges in the context of a public health threat.

UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!

Author

Topic: Lyme and co-infections: global challenges in the context of a public health threat.

nellypointis
LymeNet Contributor
Member # 1719

posted

Lyme and co-infections: global challenges in the context of a public health threat.

Read full text at:

http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fcimb.2014.00074/pdf
Introduction:
Lyme disease, caused by Borrelia burgdorferi and transmitted by ticks, was initially considered a recent, rare and regional occurrence. We now have evidence that very similar bacteria infected humans in Europe during the ice age (1). Evidence-based data are scarce therefore many aspects of the disease remain controversial (2,3,4), but in 2013 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revised their annual estimates from 30,000 cases to 300,000 cases in the USA alone. Having dramatically increased their numbers, the CDC are now calling Lyme disease “a tremendous public health problem in the United States” (5).
The lack of a gold standard for diagnosis makes producing accurate statistics difficult. Some pathogenic strains belonging to the B. burgdorferi sensu lato complex have a worldwide distribution, yet they are rarely considered or tested for (6,7,8,9,10,11,12). Borrelia miyamotoi, for instance, phylogenetically close to relapsing fever borreliae, is now recognized as a cause of Lyme-like disease and relapsing fever in Asia, Europe and North America. It usually does not cross react with B. burgdorferi tests (12).

These recent historical, geographical and microbial data should prompt the medical community to realize that cases of persisting post tick-bite syndromes are probably due to multiple pathogens and that these occult infections will require a new approach if not an actual paradigm shift.

Posts: 416 | From france | Registered: Oct 2001 | IP: Logged |

Printer-friendly view of this topic

The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:

The Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey
907 Pebble Creek Court, Pennington, NJ 08534 USA
http://www.lymenet.org/