Archive for December, 2009

Objective:We report a typical case of earlobe lymphocytoma.
Method:A case report and literature review are presented.
Results:A 10-year-old girl presented with a blue-coloured earlobe. A
diagnosis of Lyme disease was confirmed by serological tests. Lyme
borreliosis is the most common tick-borne disease in the northern
hemisphere. It is caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi sensu
lato. The patient was successfully treated with antibiotics.
Conclusion:The diagnostic process and ENT symptomatology of Lyme disease
and borrelial lymphocytoma are summarised and discussed. Continued

Lyme Disease, caused by the spirochete Borrellia burgdorferi, is the most common vector-borne disease in the United States. Clinically, it primarily affects the skin, joints, nervous system, and heart. Lyme carditis occurs in 4%-10% of adults with Lyme disease. Transient variable-level atrioventricular blocks, occurring in 77% of adults with Lyme carditis, are the most common cardiac manifestation. Up to 50% of Lyme carditis patients may develop complete heart block. The incidence of Lyme carditis in the pediatric population is not well established. We present a pediatric patient with a transient asymptomatic complete heart block resulting from Lyme carditis, an under-recognized complication of Lyme disease in the pediatric population. ^Continued

Tick-borne encephalitis is an infection of the CNS caused by a tick-borne
encephalitis virus transmitted by ticks. It is more common in adults than in
children. During the last 30 years, the incidence of the disease increased
continuously in almost all endemic European countries except Austria. Many
factors are responsible for the increased incidence. However, in Austria, the
incidence of tick-borne encephalitis decreased dramatically since the
introduction of a well-organized vaccination campaign against tick-borne
encephalitis. The diagnosis of tick-borne encephalitis is based on clinical
criteria and laboratory confirmation of infection. Other tick-borne diseases,
such as Lyme borreliosis and human granulocytic anaplasmosis, should be
considered in children with tick-borne encephalitis since endemic areas for all
three diseases overlap. Continued

Background: Figurate erythemas are a group of distinct conditions with different underlying causes and clinical presentations. They must be differentiated from a wide variety of dermatological entities including mycoses, urticaria, granuloma annulare, pseudolymphoma. Dermatologists need to be familiar with this set of conditions which include erythema annulare centrifugum, erythema gyratum repens, erythema marginatum, erythema migrans and necrolytic migratory erythema which are all important clues to underlying diseases. Continued

Linda’s comment:  This would not make for a great Christmas….This is a serious situation and I have to admit, I hadn’t thought about it until reading this article….Be very careful  and don’t let these blood-sucking ticks ruin your Holidays.

Families who bring Christmas trees into their homes should watch out for ticks this holiday season because the tiny blood-sucking, disease-ridden creatures often survive winter temperatures, German daily Bild reported. Continued

 The Lyme borreliosis agent Borrelia burgdorferi and the relapsing fever group
species Borrelia miyamotoi co-occur in the United States. We used
species-specific, quantitative polymerase chain reaction to study both species
in the blood and skin of Peromyscus leucopus mice and host-seeking Ixodes
scapularis nymphs at a Connecticut site. Bacteremias with B. burgdorferi or B.
miyamotoi were most prevalent during periods of greatest activity for nymphs or
larvae, respectively. Continued

Background: Morphea, granuloma annulare (GA) and lichen sclerosus et atrophicans (LSA) have also been suggested to be linked to Borrelia infection. Previous studies based on serologic data or detection of Borrelia by immunohistochemistry and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) reported contradictory results. Thus, we examined skin biopsies of morphea, GA and LSA by PCR to assess the prevalence of Borrelia DNA in an endemic area and to compare our results with data in the literature.

Methods: Amplification of DNA sequences of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato by nested PCR from formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded skin biopsies of morphea, GA and LSA, followed by automated sequencing of amplification products. PCR-based studies on Borrelia species in these disorders published until July 2009 were retrieved by a literature search. Continued

Bacterial pathogens are ubiquitous in soil and water – concurrently so are free-living helminths that feed on bacteria. These helminths fall into two categories; the non-parasitic and the parasitic. The former have been the focus of previous work, finding that bacterial pathogens inside helminths are conferred survival advantages over and above bacteria alone in the environment, and that accidental ingestion of non-parasitic helminths can cause systemic infection in vertebrate hosts. Here, we determine the potential for bacteria to be associated with parasitic helminths. After culturing helminths from fecal samples obtained from livestock the external bacteria were removed. Two-hundred parasitic helminths from three different species were homogenised and the bacteria that were internal to the helminths were isolated and cultured. Eleven different bacterial isolates were found; of which eight were indentified. The bacteria identified included known human and cattle pathogens. We concluded that bacteria of livestock can be isolated in parasitic helminths and that this suggests a mechanism by which bacteria, pathogenic or otherwise, can be transmitted between individuals. Continued

Abstract: The life transmission cycle of B. burgdorferi requires migration of spirochetes from tick’s gut to its salivary glands during vertebrate’s blood sucking, penetrating to the vertebrate’s tissues and their colonization. A special feature of these bacteria, despite
its relatively small genome, is the ability to adapt in different host environments. Continued

OBJECTIVE: Recent studies have suggested an important role of the B-cell chemoattractant CXCL13 in acute neuroborreliosis (NB). Our aim was to confirm the diagnostic role of CXCL13 and to evaluate its relevance as a therapy response and disease activity marker in NB. Continued