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Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.today.com/health/worse-ly...fection-t25156
Worse than Lyme? Another tick-borne infection sends people to hospital
19 minutes ago
Linda Carroll
TODAY
Patients with the disease, dubbed Borrelia miyamotoi Disease by its Japanese discoverers, tend to look sicker that those with Lyme, which explains why 25 percent of those in the study were hospitalized, said the study's lead author Dr. Philip J. Molloy, a physician in private practice in New England and also medical director at IMUGEN, Inc., the lab that performed testing for the disease.
"Fever and severe headaches caused [doctors] to have a suspicion of possible meningitis," Molloy said.
Molloy and colleagues tested blood samples sent to IMUGEN from 11,515 patients who showed up at emergency rooms, urgent care clinics, and primary care offices in New York and the New England area complaining of symptoms that suggested a tick-borne illness.
The researchers found 97 cases of BMD and were able to gather details on 51 of them, according to the study published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Those patients had sought care for symptoms including, high fever, chills, headache, and muscle pain or joint pain. A full 25 percent were deemed so sick that doctors checked them into the hospital.
"This is an important paper," said Dr. Peter J. Krause, who wrote an editorial accompanying the new study and a senior research scientist at the Yale School of Public Health and the Yale School of Medicine...
Worse than Lyme? Another tick-borne infection sends people to hospital
19 minutes ago
Linda Carroll
TODAY
Patients with the disease, dubbed Borrelia miyamotoi Disease by its Japanese discoverers, tend to look sicker that those with Lyme, which explains why 25 percent of those in the study were hospitalized, said the study's lead author Dr. Philip J. Molloy, a physician in private practice in New England and also medical director at IMUGEN, Inc., the lab that performed testing for the disease.
"Fever and severe headaches caused [doctors] to have a suspicion of possible meningitis," Molloy said.
Molloy and colleagues tested blood samples sent to IMUGEN from 11,515 patients who showed up at emergency rooms, urgent care clinics, and primary care offices in New York and the New England area complaining of symptoms that suggested a tick-borne illness.
The researchers found 97 cases of BMD and were able to gather details on 51 of them, according to the study published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Those patients had sought care for symptoms including, high fever, chills, headache, and muscle pain or joint pain. A full 25 percent were deemed so sick that doctors checked them into the hospital.
"This is an important paper," said Dr. Peter J. Krause, who wrote an editorial accompanying the new study and a senior research scientist at the Yale School of Public Health and the Yale School of Medicine...