Visiting physician sheds new light on Lyme disease.

[elleng]

On a visit to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, Dr. Nevena Zubcevik challenged conventional diagnosis and treatment of tick-borne diseases.

'This past Friday, Dr. Nevena Zubcevik, attending physician at Harvard Medical School and co-director of Dean Center for Tick Borne Illness at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Charlestown (SRH) traveled to one of the nation’s front lines in the public health battle against Lyme disease to speak to a group of Martha’s Vineyard Hospital physicians. “I wanted to do this presentation by Skype because of all the ticks you have here,” she joked.

Dr. Zubcevik was at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital (MVH) to speak at grand rounds, a weekly meeting of clinicians, which on this day was open to the public, resulting in an overflow crowd at the Community Room just off the hospital lobby.

Over the course of the hour, she shared the most recent findings that she and her colleagues have made on the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease, in particular on the 10 to 15 percent of patients who suffer long-term symptoms, defined by Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS). She discussed the protean nature of tick-borne diseases, the importance of public awareness, and the urgent need for the medical community to step up its game. . .

Dr. Zubcevic said the recent revelation that actor, singer, and songwriter Kris Kristofferson was cured of dementia once he was properly diagnosed with Lyme disease should be a lesson for medical professionals on how pervasive the disease is, and how often it is overlooked.

“Sudden-onset dementia should really be a red flag for Lyme [disease], especially in people with compromised immune systems,” she said.

“Everyone over 50 has a compromised immune system.”

Dr. Zubcevik said that doctors and parents should know that Lyme presents differently in children than it does in adults. “71 percent of the time, headache is the most common symptom in children,” she said. “Mood disturbance, fatigue, and irritability are also frequent symptoms in children. If they are acting out in school all of a sudden, get them tested.”'>>>

http://www.mvtimes.com/2016/07/13/visiting-physician-sheds-new-light-lyme-disease/

[Warpy]

1. The doc should know that giving doxycyline to kids under 10 is a bad idea

since it will cause staining of teeth that might not be completely erupted. Fortunately, a whole slew of antibiotics, most of them off patent for a very, very long time and cheaper than dirt, can kill Lyme spirochetes when given in a 3 week course. Even plain old 1940s penicillin will work.

I had Lyme 30+ years ago when there was no blood test for it. Fortunately, I had the tick, the bulls-eye rash and a temperature in excess of 103F, so my treatment was prompt and appropriate.

If HIV hadn't come along at about the same time, Lyme would have been the disease of the century, a very old disease that had never been identified because the symptoms were so weird. Oetzi, the Alpine "Ice Man," tested positive for it.

[C Moon]

2. Wow. Great information, Warpy!

[nuxvomica]

4. I believe I had Lyme this summer

No rash, full panel tests were all negative, no fever, just constant, migrating headaches, zero appetite, sweats and the context of having spent time in the woods 3 weeks before symptoms. When the tests came back negative, my doctor put me on 30 days of doxy anyway because he had just been reading a Harvard Medical study saying most patients test negative and many are undertreated. I didn't start feeling right till the last week of treatment but the headaches disappeared after the first day though my knees started stiffening after the first week of doxy. Very strange disease.

[Warpy]

5. Yes, I've always considered myself "lucky" to get so sick with it.

It is a very weird disease, but all spirochete diseases are odd and relatively hard to kill. Fortunately for the human race, the cheap antibiotics still work on most of them.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Thank you, elleng.

[In_The_Wind]

6. I may have Lyme disease. We'll know next week when the blood work results come back.