Inside Lyme Podcast with Dr. Daniel Cameron

I will be discussing the case of a 66-year-old woman who ignored a Bull's eye rash, indicative of Lyme disease, and later developed acute renal failure. This case was described by Mishra and colleagues  in the American Journal of Medicine . She presented with a tick bite followed by a rash.  She ignored the tick bite and rash. A month later she developed acute renal failure.  Her renal functi...

In this episode, I discussed a unique case involving a 43-year-old man with neurological manifestations of Lyme disease including both meningitis and radiculitis. This case was described by Dabira in the journal Neurology International. He first presented with an atypical rash.   Within two weeks he presented with a broad range of symptoms “including cough, fever, anorexia, malaise, fatigue, myalg...

This case involves a 7-year-old girl who developed multiple physical and neuropsychiatric symptoms six months after vacationing in a tick endemic region of the US.  I first read about this case by Cross and colleagues in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry . The patient’s symptoms were extensive, Jones explains, and included “dramatic declines in cognitive functioning, concentration, and ability t...

The man had been diagnosed with the tick-borne illness Babesia in Florida 10 weeks after travelling to New York. Initially, he presented with a 4-day history of fever, generalized weakness, and flu-like symptoms.  I first read about this case by Patel and colleagues in the journal Cureus . His fever was 104.8 F.  His hemoglobin dropped from 9.3g/dL to 6.7g/dL within 5 hours. He was diagnosed with...

At age 8, the boy had been hospitalized for severe abdominal pain and underwent extensive testing. But results were negative. His abdominal pain remitted over the next two months. One year later, the boy became ill again with new symptoms. “He experienced learning difficulties with attention deficit and irritability, in addition, he developed difficulty in walking,” wrote the authors.  He was diag...

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive motor neuron disease. “In July 2018, that is, within six months, he developed paraparesis of both arms and also suffered from cramps in the shoulder girdle and hand muscles,” wrote the authors. “By August 2018, the patient was severely impaired in everyday life activities.” I first read about this case by Wir...

I have Lyme disease patients in my practice who are concerned with COVID-19. I also have Lyme disease patients who are reluctant to take the COVID-19 vaccine.   The reluctance to take a vaccine has been called vaccine hesitancy. A vaccine was introduced in the late 1990 to prevent Lyme disease.  The Lyme disease vaccine was quite effective at preventing a Lyme disease rash. The Lyme disease was on...

a 61-year old woman who was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer and later Lyme disease.   The woman underwent a  lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiation. I first read about this case in the journal Diagnostics   by Ørbæk  and colleagues. One  year later, she developed leg and back pain so severe that narcotics would not even alleviate her pain. There was no evidence of a recurrence of her cancer. ...

A 36-year-old man suffered with severe neuropathic pain in both feet. The pain was severe at a level 10 out of 10 despite methadone 5 mg every four hours as needed. The doctors elected not to treat with antibiotic under the assumption that the tick-borne infection had resolved. I first read about this case in the journal Neuromodulation   by Karri  and colleagues. The pain remained severe despite...

Dr. Cameron feels that the best way to get to know Lyme disease is through reviewing actual cases. In this Inside Lyme Podcast episode, he will be discussing three deaths associated with Lyme disease. I first read about these cases in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report ( MMWR) by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). All three individuals tested positive on autopsy. You can...

Dr. Cameron feels that the best way to get to know Lyme disease is through reviewing actual cases. In this Inside Lyme Podcast episode, he will be discussing 16-year-old male with Lyme disease presenting with palpitations and chest pain,  His EKG progressed from first degree heart block to episodes of complete heart blog. Myers and colleagues wrote about this case in the journal BMC Infectious Dis...

I will be discussing autonomic dysfunction in a 64-year old woman with a history of Lyme disease and COVID-19.  She was initially diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease at the age of 60.  She was diagnosed with two autonomic disorders. Her distal burning sensation without weakness were diagnosed as small fiber neuropathy (SNF).  Her dizziness, brain fog, and fatigue were diagnosed as orthostatic h...

Dr. Cameron feels that the best way to get to know Lyme disease is through reviewing actual cases. In this Inside Lyme Podcast episode, he will be discussing a 25-year-old man with transverse myelitis and Lyme disease. Dumic and colleague first discussed this case in the journal IDCases in 2019. “A previously healthy 25-year-old man presented with inability to urinate and frequent falls associated...

Dr. Cameron feels that the best way to get to know Lyme disease is through reviewing actual cases. In this Inside Lyme Podcast episode, he will be discussing a 69-year-old man with Lyme disease and double vision. Dixit and colleagues first discussed this case in the journal Case Reports in Neurological Medicine in 2018.   He had been hiking in a rural area of New York but did not notice a tick bit...

Dr. Cameron feels that the best way to get to know Lyme disease is through reviewing actual cases. In this Inside Lyme Podcast episode, he will be discussing 75-year-old Chinese man with a negative Lyme disease test. Lamichhane and colleagues first discussed this case in the journal Case Reports in Infectious Diseases in 2018. The man presented with a high fever, unsteady gait, encephalopathy, diff...

Dr. Cameron feels that the best way to get to know COVID-19 is through reviewing actual cases. In this Podcast episode, he will be discussing a 73-year-old resident of a skilled nursing facility who died from COVID-19. McMichael and colleagues discussed this case in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2020. As of March 18, 2020, there were 101 residents of the skilled nursing facility with a co...

Dr. Cameron feels that the best way to get to know COVID-19 is through reviewing actual cases. In this Podcast episode, he will discuss the evidence supporting hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin for COVID-19. Researchers have turned to existing drugs that might be effective without causing significant side effects. Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine have shown some antiviral benefits in vitro   A...

Dr. Cameron feels that the best way to get to know COVID-19 is through reviewing actual cases. In this Podcast episode, he will discuss the risk for patient to health care worker and patient-to-patient transmission of CVID-19 Wang and colleagues first discussed this case in the journal JAMA in 2020. The authors 138 Hospitalized Patients WithCOVID-19 infected Pneumonia in Wuhan, China You may be wo...

You may be wondering why I am discussing COVID-19 during an Inside Lyme podcast. I am concerned for my children, grandchildren, and my patients. I would like to share my understanding of COVID-19 through my eyes as a clinical epidemiologist.  I was surprised to run across the question of fecal transmission of COVID-19 to children in the same article by Cruz and colleagues. “There is also evidence...

Dr. Cameron feels that the best way to get to know COVID-19 is through reviewing actual cases. In this Podcast episode, he will discuss the risk for children with Coronavirus COVID-19.    Dong and colleague first discussed this case in the journal Pediatrics in 2020. The authors described 2143 pediatric Patients COVID-19 in China You may be wondering why I am discussing COVID-19 during an Inside L...

Dr. Cameron feels that the best way to get to know Lyme disease is through reviewing actual cases. In this Inside Lyme Podcast episode, he will be discussing a 43-year-old woman with Sjögren’s syndrome secondary to Lyme disease Smiyan and her colleague first discussed this case in the journal Reumatologia in 2019. This woman’s diagnosis was changed from possible Lymphoma to primary Sjögren’s syndr...

Dr. Cameron feels that the best way to get to know Lyme disease is through reviewing actual cases. In this Inside Lyme Podcast episode, he will be discussing a 67-year-old woman with a delayed onset of Babesia. Hoversten and her colleague first discussed this case in the British Medical Journal Case Reports in 2018. The authors discussed the nearly three-week gap in time between the woman’s erythe...

Dr. Cameron feels that the best way to get to know Lyme disease is through reviewing actual cases. In this Inside Lyme Podcast episode, he will be discussing a 46-year-old woman with Lyme disease with bilateral vision loss. Jha and her colleague first discussed this case in the Wisconsin Medical Journal in 2018. An ophthalmologic exam confirmed the optometrist finding of optic neuritis. Optic neur...

Dr. Cameron feels that the best way to get to know Lyme disease is through reviewing actual cases. In this Inside Lyme Podcast episode, he will be discussing a 15-year-old boy with severe cardiac problems associated with Lyme disease. Nawrocki and his colleague first discussed this case in the Air Medical Journal in 2018. His friends immediately called 911. They were not sure how long he was uncon...

Dr. Cameron feels that the best way to get to know Lyme disease is through reviewing actual cases. In this Inside Lyme Podcast episode, he will be discussing Two travelers who contracted Babesia while traveling to the United States. Kwon and her colleague first discussed this case in the journal Korean Journal of Parasitology in 2018. Both women returned to South Korea from the USA. The doctors in...