All Posts Tagged With: "cerebrospinal fluid"

Linda’s Comment:   Bell’s palsy and Lyme neuroborreliosis are the two most common diagnoses in patients with peripheral facial palsy in areas endemic for Borrelia burgdorferi.\

Excerpt:

CONCLUSIONS: We found that the time of the year, associated neurological
symptoms and mononuclear pleocytosis were strong predictive factors for
Lyme neuroborreliosis as a cause of peripheral facial palsy in an area
endemic for Borrelia.

Linda’s comment:  Clinical, diagnostic and immunological characteristics of patients with possible neuroborreliosis without intrathecal Ig-synthesis against Borrelia antigen in the cerebrospinal fluid.

PCR did not reveal any Borrelia antigen in CSF. The diagnosis
and treatment of possible but not confirmed neuroborreliosis is a
clinical challenge. The clinical response to treatment may be the best
option in these cases.

Excerpt:

In acute LNB, all
patients had elevated cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leukocyte counts. In
contrast to infections by other bacteria, CSF lactate was lower than 3.5
mmol/l in all but 5 patients. The CSF findings did not differ between
polyradiculoneuritis, facial palsy, and meningitis. The CSF in LNB
patients strongly differed from CSF in VM patients with respect to
protein concentration and the CSF/serum albumin quotient.

Linda comments:   It can be hypothesized that the borrelial persistence in the body may have been one of the triggers of the autoimmune process resulting in demyelination of the central nervous system (CNS).  Inflammation occurs with most autoimmune diseases and of course we know that inflammation can and does effect the central nervous system…

Excerpt:

A case report is presented of a 55-year-old patient diagnosed with a 
demyelinating disease of unclear etiology. The patient had Lyme 
borreliosis in 2004. Specific IgG antibodies against B. burgdorferi s. 
l. were detected in the serum. Intrathecal antibodies were not found in 
the cerebrospinal fluid, but the presence of B. garinii DNA was 
confirmed by PCR analysis. It can be hypothesized that the borrelial 
persistence in the body may have been one of the triggers of the 
autoimmune process resulting in demyelination of the central nervous 
system (CNS).

Linda’s comment:  Where will it all end…..Lyme has become a world-wide epidemic, yet the ISDA boys/girls say there is not such thing as chronic Lyme!!  I don’t know where they went to medical school but they need to ask for a refund from their medical school.  Many of the IDSA members have written published studies on Lyme and the co-infections, yet they deny treatment to suffering people….

Link: http://www.scielo.br/pdf/bjmbr/v40n4/6497.pdf 

Excerpt:

An emerging clinical entity that reproduces clinical manifestations
similar to those observed in Lyme disease (LD) has been recently
under discussion in Brazil. Due to etiological and laboratory particularities
it is named LD-like syndrome or LD imitator syndrome. The
condition is considered to be a zoonosis transmitted by ticks of the
genus Amblyomma, possibly caused by interaction of multiple fastidious
microorganisms originating a protean clinical picture, including
neurological, osteoarticular and erythema migrans-like lesions. 

Excerpt:

89 cases of neuroborreliosis were reported; in 66 cases diagnosis was confirmed. Facial weakness was one of the presenting symptoms in 47 cases (71%) and the only symptom in nine children (14%). The five complaints most frequently reported were: malaise, headache, fatigue, fever and neck pain. 52 children (79%) had one or more objective neurological signs at presentation, of which facial nerve palsy, other cranial nerve abnormalities and meningeal signs were most frequent. 14 patients (21%), however, had no neurological signs at physical examination. In these patients, the number of subjective complaints was higher, and the time interval to diagnosis was longer compared with those with objective neurological abnormalities.

Conclusions

In this study, 79% of paediatric neuroborreliosis patients presented with neurological signs, most often facial nerve palsy. 21% presented in an atypical way without neurological signs. A thorough neurological examination is essential once neuroborreliosis is considered in children. Even in the absence of neurological signs, neuroborreliosis may be suspected in children with typical antecedents and multiple symptoms. Cerebrospinal fluid investigations are then required to confirm the diagnosis.

Full article: http://sci.tech-archive.net/Archive/sci.med.diseases.lyme/2008-06/msg00078.html

Excerpt:

IDSA knows that chronic Lyme exists

The IDSA is aware that chronic Lyme exists. We know this because
members of the 2000 and 2006 Lyme disease guideline panels wrote, in
research articles and patents, that chronic Lyme exists.

Evidence about the existence of chronic Lyme borreliosis has increased
since the 2006 LD guidelines were published.

Scientists in California recently reported that not only can Bb persist
in mice despite treatment with ceftriaxone, but the Borrelia can also
infect other ticks and mice. (1) This study buttresses previous
studies that showed that Borrelia can persist in mice (2, 3), dogs (4,
5, 6), and ponies (7).

Studies have also shown that Bb can persist despite antibiotic
treatment in the following human cells, tissues, organs, and body
fluids:

* Fibroblasts (8; Mark Klempner, an IDSA LD guideline panel member in
2006, is an author of this study)

Full article: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10 … 1003687294

Excerpt:

A 57-year-old man was referred for a painful acute inferior visual field defect in his right eye.
Fundus examination of the right eye revealed diffuse optic disc oedema compatible with a papillitis. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) findings were consistent with lymphocytic meningitis, and serologic tests for Lyme disease were positive in both serum and CSF.
After treatment with ceftriaxone and bolus of methylprednisolone, right eye inferior altitudinal visual field defect persisted despite resolution of papillitis, and fundus examination disclosed a superior optic atrophy in the right eye.
To our knowledge, it is the first reported case of a unilateral Lyme optic neuritis occurring simultaneously to neuroborreliosis and further complicated by non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy

Excerpt:

The detection of spirochetes in 15 patients with clinically
documented early disseminated LB has been analyzed when using
cultivation method of the plasma or the cerebrospinal fluid,
electron microscopy, commercial Western blot and detecting the
DNA of the pathogen in vitro cultures by PCR-RFLP. Spirochetes
were isolated in eight blood and one cerebrospinal fluid culture
samples.

*In seven cases (47%), previous serodiagnostic laboratory tests
were negative*

Full article: http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=20377044&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks

Full article: http://www.ams.ac.ir/AIM/0363/018.pdf

Excerpt:

A 16-year-old male with headache, vomiting, fever, neck stiffness, and a positive Kerning’s sign was referred to Boali Medical Center. The cerebrospinal fluid examination revealed a lymphocytic meningitis, and the blood smears was positive for Borrelia. He was successfully treated with doxycycline