This is a review of recent studies recorded on PubMed. The focus is on new information – so studies reporting prior information will rarely be mentioned. Cases are now being reported from Nepal to New York City proper.

• Microbiological features distinguishing Lyme disease and relapsing fever spirochetes.[2018]
  • “The recent proposal of splitting the genus Borrelia into two genera in the newly formed family of Borreliaceae, i. e. Borrelia and Borreliella “
• Lyme Disease in 2018: What Is New (and What Is Not).
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• Cost-effectiveness of a potential anti-tick vaccine with combined protection against Lyme borreliosis and tick-borne encephalitis in Slovenia[2018].
  • “A wholesale price for a vaccine shot of €9.13 would lead to cost savings followed by health gains for the vaccination strategy.”
  • Omics and bioinformatics applied to vaccine development against Borrelia.[2018]
  • Design of a Lyme Disease Vaccine as an Active Learning Approach in a Novel Interdisciplinary Graduate-Level Course.[2017]
• The Persistent Lyme Disease: “True Chronic Lyme Disease” rather than “Post-treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome”[2018].
  • “A meta-analysis of test accuracy reported a sensitivity of only 59.5%, varying from 30.6%–86.2%.[5] Antibiotic testing is necessary to reach Lyme disease final diagnosis, namely in patients presenting with negative tests and a suggestive clinical presentation.”
  • “A new approach with antibiotics was initiated: ceftriaxone (2 g/day for 1 month) followed by doxycycline (200 mg twice a day) associated with hydroxychloroquine 200 (once a day). Two months later, after a quick improvement, the patient exhibited no symptoms. “
• Identifying vancomycin as an effective antibiotic for killing Borrelia burgdorferi[2018].
  • “doxycycline, a standard of care for uncomplicated acute infection, did not clear the pathogen. By contrast, both ceftriaxone and vancomycin cleared the infection.”
• Infectious Mononucleosis and Lyme Disease as Confounding Diagnoses: A Report of 2 Cases [2018].
  • “Significant cross-reactivity is known to occur between Lyme and EBV serologic assays complicating the diagnosis. “
  • Comment: i.e. you may have EBV and get a positive Lyme results. With CFS reactivation of prior EBV infection being well known – Telling CFS from Lyme lack any reliable tests.
• Metabolites of prostaglandin synthases as potential biomarkers of Lyme disease severity and symptom resolution[2018].
  • “subjects with Lyme meningitis, Lyme arthritis (LA) and antibiotic-refractory LA had increased levels of an array of PGs and lipid mediators (e.g., LTB_4, 8-isoPGF_2α, and phospholipases A₂ activity). ‘
  • Identification of Urine Metabolites as Biomarkers of Early Lyme Disease [2018].
    • “Linear discriminant analyses demonstrated that individual metabolic biosignatures can correctly discriminate ELD from the other patient groups with accuracies of 71 to 100%. “

• Secondary dementia due to Lyme neuroborreliosis.[2018]
• Cognitive Decline in Post-treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome. [2018]
• Neuropsychiatric Lyme Borreliosis: An Overview with a Focus on a Specialty Psychiatrist’s Clinical Practice[2018].
  • “usually presenting with significant comorbidity which may include developmental disorders, autism spectrum disorders, schizoaffective disorders, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety disorders (panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, intrusive symptoms), eating disorders, decreased libido, sleep disorders, addiction, opioid addiction, cognitive impairments, dementia, seizure disorders, suicide, violence, anhedonia, depersonalization, dissociative episodes, derealization and other impairments. “
  • Aggressiveness, violence, homicidality, homicide, and Lyme disease.[2018]
  • Risk Factors for Clinician-Diagnosed Lyme Arthritis, Facial Palsy, Carditis, and Meningitis in Patients From High-Incidence States.[2017]
• Ophthalmological findings in neuroborreliosis – a prospective study performed in western Sweden.[2018]
  • “Facial palsy with palpebral diastasis was a common finding. Onset of diplopia and/or sixth nerve affection may be a first sign of neuroborreliosis. Number of ophthalmological findings was correlated with the CSF antibody titre”
  • Outcome of facial palsy from Lyme disease in prospectively followed patients who had received corticosteroids [2018].
• The Emergence of a Forgotten Entity: Dermatomyositis-like Presentation of Lyme Disease in Rural Wisconsin.[2018]