The likelihood that a pathogen will overwhelm the immune system and cause a person to become ill has to do with the dose of the exposure. Scientists have explored the dose of exposure in a variety of infectious diseases such as Lyme borreliosis and – most recently – COVID-19. Scientists are learning more about how… Continue reading The Infectious Dose of Pathogens and Transmission Risk
Bartonella and Lyme Borrelia are easily confused because they are both vector-borne bacteria with similar sounding names and frequently have complex, interrelated roles in chronic illnesses. Patients often believe Bartonella and Borrelia are the same before speaking to us, or they may mistake something they read online about one for the other. In this post, we are going to describe some unique characteristics that distinguish these bacteria from each other.
The Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction (JHR), or “herxing”, was first described by physicians in the late 1800s. Patients who experience this phenomenon report an increase in non-specific symptoms shortly following initiation of antibiotic treatment. These symptoms include chills, fever, headache, and/or intensification of skin rashes. Despite being described more than a century ago, it is still difficult… Continue reading “Herxing”: Why does it occur?
Skin is the largest human organ. It is also the first place that flea and tick-borne pathogens encounter the human immune system. While some skin symptoms are signature markers for specific pathogens or families of pathogens, others provide hard-to-interpret clues that can be linked to a wide variety of diseases. Lyme borreliosis and bartonellosis are… Continue reading Vector-Borne Disease and Skin: Your First Layer of Defense
Both bartonellosis and Lyme disease are associated with dangerous heart conditions that can be fatal in some cases. According to the CDC, 11 cases of fatal Lyme carditis have been reported between 1985 and 2019, however, researchers suspect there are more undetected cases. The heart has three critical aspects that can be affected by disease:… Continue reading How Vector-Borne Diseases Impact Heart Health
At Galaxy Diagnostics, one of our goals is to take new findings regarding flea and tick-borne diseases, like Lyme disease and bartonellosis, and develop educational resources for patients and the medical community. A couple of months ago, we helped break down the 2018 Tick-Borne Disease Working Group Report to Congress into a four-part series. This… Continue reading New Educational Resource Concerning Lyme Borreliosis in Humans
