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LDA NEWS & UPDATES
June 30, 2024
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On May 11, 2024, in Jackson, NJ, the Four Seasons South Knolls (FSSK) Women’s Club, along with residents and guests at FSSK, joined together to make a change in the lives of children living with Lyme and tick-borne diseases.
The Women’s Club held a Walk & Tricky Tray Auction to benefit the Lyme Disease Association, Inc. (LDA) LymeAid 4 Kids (LA4K) fund.
Over 120 participants took part in the well received-event. The Women’s Club donated 100% of the proceeds raised to LA4K. The FSSK Men’s Club, a longtime supporter of LA4K, also contributed. Read more.
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The Dr. Talks: Healing Lyme Summit took place virtually over 7 days, June 4-10th, 2024. The Summit was hosted by Dr. Richard Horowitz and Dr. Myriah Hinchey.
The Summit featured over 50 of the leading doctors, researchers, and advocates in the field of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases (TBDs) and conditions, as well as patient experience.
Topics included treatment innovations, disease management strategies, the latest in research advances, challenges, related conditions, and tick-bite and disease prevention. View the Healing Lyme Summit Program for a full list of speakers and topics. Read more.
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Plos One, (Lantos, P. M., et al.) 5.31.2024 published, “Mapping the distribution of Lyme disease at a mid-Atlantic site in the United States using electronic health data.” The study discusses a geospatial analysis of Lyme disease cases using electronic medical records from the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland.
The study aims to assess the suitability of electronic medical record (EMR) data for retrospective surveillance of Lyme disease and attempts to map the probability of Lyme disease within 100 km of the Hospital. Read more.
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Emerging Infectious Diseases (Probert, W.S., et al.) 5.30.2024 published the early release article, “Newly Recognized Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia as Cause of Severe Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever–Like Illness, Northern California, USA.”
In this study, authors report case studies on a newly recognized Rickettsia pathogen, Rickettsia sp. CA6269, Candidatus Rickettsia lanei.
This novel pathogen has been found to cause severe Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF)–like illness in 2 residents of northern California. Read more.
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Frontiers in Psychiatry, (Robeville, C., et al.) 6.6.2024 published, “Bartonella species bacteremia in association with adult psychosis.”
Findings of this new study show that Bartonella DNA is 3 times more likely to be present in the blood of adults diagnosed with schizophrenia or another psychotic disorder than in adults without these disorders. The findings of the study support the concept that pathogens, particularly vector-borne, may be a contributor to mental illness. Read more.
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NPR‘s Allison Aubrey (06.10.2024) published, “Once called Nantucket fever, this nasty tick-borne illness is on the rise.” The tick-borne parasitic infection, babesiosis, was first identified in the US in 1969 on Nantucket Island.
As blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) expand their range, a significant increase in incidence for this disease has been reported by the CDC over the last decade.
A small case study on the use of tafenoquine against babesiosis was published last month. When doctors added tafenoquine to these patients’ treatments, they felt better, symptoms went away, and organisms could no longer be detected in their blood. Read more.
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Wiley (Nowak, T.A., et al.) 06.03.2024, published a review article “Lizards and the enzootic cycle of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato.”
In this review, researchers summarize the current evidence supporting the contribution of lizards to the circulation Lyme borreliae. Evidence of lizards as potential reservoirs for B. burgdorferi s.l. (Bb), from field surveillance to laboratory research, is included.
Though many lizard species are fed upon by Ixodes ticks, this taxa is among the least studied of the host vertebrates in how they may contribute to the transmission and life cycle maintenance of Lyme bacteria. It was founds that most studies have focused on just a few species of lizards. Read more.
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The People’s Pharmacy, Joe Graedon (06.03.2024), published “Why Is Alpha-Gal Allergy So Misunderstood and Misdiagnosed?”
In this article, Graedon discusses the complexities surrounding diagnoses and management of alpha-gal meat allergy, and presents patient stories and previous interviews with alpha-gal experts. Read more.
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Alpha-gal meat allergy is acquired from the bite of a lone star tick. | | |
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Biospace (6.3.2024) published a news release, “Valneva Announces Publication of Lyme Disease Phase 2 Trials in the Lancet Infectious Diseases.”
Two Phase 2 clinical trials of Lyme disease vaccine candidate, VLA15, were published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, a peer-reviewed medical journal.
This announcement was made by Valneva, a specialty vaccine company that has been working on development of a Lyme vaccine. Valneva announced that these trials, as well as a third Phase 2 trial in pediatric participants, support the design of Phase 3 trial, ‘Vaccine Against Lyme for Outdoor Recreationists’ (VALOR). Read more.
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Global News, Kalina Laframboise, (6.01.2024) published, “Woman with ‘unmanageable’ pain from Lyme disease chooses to die.
She wasn’t always believed.” Stéphanie Lavoie, a 30-year-old woman from Drummondville, Quebec, struggled with Lyme disease for years before requesting medical assistance in dying on May 17, 2024.
She chose doctor-assisted death because she was in intractable pain, spending most of her adult life fighting the escalating symptoms of Lyme disease that left her bedridden and unable to eat. Read more.
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The Lyme Disease Association Inc. (LDA) does not charge any membership fees. Most of our materials are free to download and most of our videos are free on YouTube. Our nationwide doctor referral system is free to access. Printed brochures can be ordered for the cost of S&H. | | | | |
