LDA NEWS & UPDATES
March 31, 2022
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If you think government agencies have softened their position against Lyme disease patients, perhaps you did not watch the 2nd meeting of the last term of the Working Group (WG), Feb 28 - Mar 1. The law creating the WG under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), requires at least two meetings to be held per year, but in 2021 only one meeting was held, and in 2022, the meeting devoted about five out of nine total meeting hours to presentations of reports from regular subcommittees.
The Disease Prevention and Treatment Subcommittee Final Findings - General presentation was very concerning:
- from the subcommittee composition,
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to the declaration that no outside experts presented to the subcommittee; they did not need any,
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The Blog presents the graph from Tick-Borne Disease Working Group: 2020 Report to Congress; Source: Johnson et al., 2018; Derived from Goswami et al., 2013. The graph shows Lyme ranks below leprosy in number of clinical trials for infectious diseases. Lyme is a research disadvantaged disease. |
- to the presentation itself that was damaging to patient care,
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to the fact that the report was not provided to the Working Group members for each member to review prior to the subcommittee report in public for the Working Group to discuss publicly. Read more.
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Delaney Dixon is a 6th grader from Windsor, NY, who contracted Lyme disease in 2017 following an undetected tick bite. Delaney came up with the idea for a device to check for ticks in hard-to-reach places on the body, and to even remove them. She and her father developed a prototype called “Tick Stik,” which is an HD camera on a retractable wand with a flexible head. Since bringing the project to Binghamton University for development, they have worked on parts acquisition and a smartphone app.
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Jung Wok Oh, Justin Adamczak and Salvatore Mezzatesta are undergrad seniors, majoring in mechanical engineering, at Watson College of Engineering & Applied Science, Binghamton University. The Tick Stik idea became one of their senior mechanical engineering projects during the '21-'22 school year. The three seniors, along with faculty advisor, Professor Peter Huang, helped to brainstorm ideas with the Dixons, and worked on the technical aspects of the project. The Binghamton seniors have started the
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Chris & Delaney Dixon with BU students Salvatore Mezzatesta, Justin Adamczak and Jung Wok Oh
Photo credit: Binghamton University/Jonathan Cohen
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manufacturing phase using 3D printing and are looking to complete the project by mid-May. Read more.
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The New England Journal of Medicine, Journal Watch, reports on phase 2/3 clinical trial results of combination treatment with two oral drugs against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID 19). Nirmatrelvir functions to inhibit a SARS-CoV-2 protease which is critically important to viral replication. Ritonavir, is an antiviral used
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to treat HIV infections. When ritonavir is given in combination with nirmatrelvir it increases levels of this drug to a therapeutic range by inhibiting CYP3A4. The study found that in patients at high risk, a combination of the oral antiviral drugs nirmatrelvir and ritonavir (Paxlovid), resulted in nearly a 90% reduction in hospitalization or death. This clinical trial led to the authorization of the |
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combination drug therapy (Paxlovid) by the FDA. Read more.
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National Geographic has published an article that discusses a renewed effort to develop a highly controversial technology, ”contagious/self-spreading vaccines.” This vaccine technology is being reexamined and studied to stop the spread of many zoonotic diseases. Read more.
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This study evaluates the effectiveness of tafenoquine (antimalarial primaquine analog) for treatment in an immunocompromised patient infected by a strain of Babesia microti that was partially resistant to both azithromycin and atovaquone treatment. Read more.
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In a letter to the Editor of the American Journal of Medicine, Elizabeth Maloney, MD, responds to the new guidelines for erythema migrans (EM) rash.
She writes:
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“If the primary treatment goal for managing patients with erythema migrans (EM) rashes is to restore patients to their pre-Lyme health status, then the guidelines endorsed by Auwaerter, et al. are both inadequately sourced and potentially dangerous. Read more.
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In a letter to the Editor of the American Journal of Medicine, Beatrice Szantyr, MD, responds to the new guidelines published by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) for erythema migrans (EM) rash.
Dr. Szantyr’s letter to the Editor highlights:
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“Repeating incorrect information does not cause it to become correct.” This comment is in response to the erroneous statement by Auwaerter, et al, “that taking single-dose doxycycline after an Ixodes tick bite prevents Lyme disease, has not been demonstrated by any North American study to date.” Read more.
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The second paper from Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience was published on Cognitive and Memory Deficits in Long COVID from The COVID and Cognition Study (COVCOG).
Although COVID-19 has largely been considered a respiratory
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disease, study results indicate that 35% - 85% of patients reported neurological symptoms including headache, dizziness, myalgia, or loss of taste and smell - most prevalent in patients who become severely ill. Growing evidence associates COVID infections with neural damage. Read more.
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The report of a human death in Georgia from Heartland virus (HRTV) as well as confirmed white-tailed deer exposure to the tick-borne pathogen prompted researchers to collect samples of questing ticks in 2018–2019. The samples were taken from 26 sites near the areas where seropositive deer were captured, as well as the residence of the human patient. Read more.
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A 79-year-old male sought care through the ER at a New York City hospital after experiencing acute illness and his wife noticed blood in his urine. The patient had several medical comorbidities including, “hypertension, benign prostate hypertrophy status post transurethral prostatectomy, cerebrovascular accident, and pulmonary hypertension.” He presented additional symptoms with fever, shortness of breath, severe thrombocytopenia, hematuria, elevated liver enzymes, and acute renal failure. Read more.
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Researchers have found that both male and female specimens of a species of soft tick in Africa, Argas brumpti Neumann, show renowned sustained survival, with some living more than 26 years. This large soft tick species occupies dry habitats of eastern and southern
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Africa and feeds on various small and large mammals, lizards, and humans. These ticks inhabit dry shallow caves, rocky areas, and dust-baths of large mammals where access to hosts is often infrequent. Argas brumpti is not known to carry any disease agents, however the bite of this tick can cause very painful
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lesions with effects persisting for months to years. Read more.
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According to a study by Swedish researchers at Lund University, the messenger RNA (mRNA) from Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is able to enter human liver where it triggers the cell’s DNA, inside the nucleus, to increase the production of the LINE-1 gene expression to make mRNA. |
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The study showed rapid up-take of BNT162b2 (another name for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine) in the human liver cell line Huh7 leading to changes in LINE-1 expression and distribution. Researchers also found that BNT162b2 mRNA is reverse transcribed within the cell into DNA within just 6 hours of exposure. Read more.
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The Lyme Disease Community lost a devoted advocate and a compassionate person with the passing of Jean F. Galbreath on 3.14.22 at age 93. She was a powerhouse who worked together with her late husband William to not only help patients find appropriate health care and educate the public, but also to help educate the Maryland legislature on the merits of any pending Lyme legislation. Read more.
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Outbreak News Today reports that Health officials in Ohio have experienced record breaking numbers of Lyme disease; 582 cases in 2021. This number is more than double the 10-year-average for Ohio. Health officials have reported 2,615 cases in the past decade, with an upward trend in the past few years. Health officials have already reported 29 cases of Lyme disease for 2022, January 1 – March 7. Read more.
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New Hampshire House Bill 1022, “permitting pharmacists to dispense the drug ivermectin by means of a standing order,” was introduced and amended on March 17, 2022. HB1022 was Referred to Health and Human Services; Senate Journal 6 on March 22, 2022. This Bill was sponsored by Representative Leah Cushman [R], and co-sponsored by seven additional Representatives [R]. Read more.
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