Isolation of Borrelia burgdorferi from the myocardium of a patient with longstanding cardiomyopathy

Article Abstract:

Lyme disease is an inflammatory disorder associated with distinctive skin lesions, a rash, inflammation of the joints, and abnormalities of the heart and nervous system. The onset of Lyme disease is usually in the summer and characterized by a skin lesion and rash, associated with fever, fatigue, discomfort, headache, and a stiff neck. Inflammation of the joints, and heart and nervous system disorders occur later. Lyme disease is caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, and transmitted by the tick Ixodes dammini and similar ticks. A case is described of a 54-year-old man who was infected with B. burgdorferi and developed an influenza-like infection in the early spring of 1985. He received antibiotic treatment known to be ineffective against B. burgdoferi. His symptoms disappeared but he developed ventricular arrhythmias, disorders of heart rhythm arising from the ventricles. This was followed by chronic heart failure, the inability of the heart to pump blood and maintain the circulation, which worsened over four years, until he was admitted with complaints of difficult breathing and fatigue in 1988. The patient was found to have antibodies, proteins that bind and inactivate foreign invading substances, to B. burgdorferi, and the spirochete was isolated from the affected heart tissue. He was then given the appropriate drug therapy for Lyme disease, and although there was no improvement, his clinical condition did not deteriorate further. These findings suggested that the heart disease was related to infection with the spirochete B. burgdorferi. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

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Aging, amyloid, and cardiomyopathy

Article Abstract:

Many elderly patients with unexplained heart failure may have cardiac amyloidosis. Amyloidosis occurs when amyloid protein is deposited in large amounts in specific organs. When it occurs in the heart, it causes the walls of the ventricles to thicken and reduces the amount of blood the heart pumps. This condition is called restrictive cardiomyopathy and amyloidosis should be suspected in any elderly patient who develops restrictive cardiomyopathy. An echocardiogram is the best way to detect cardiac amyloidosis and the treatment of this disease differs from that of other cardiomyopathies.

Health aspects, Aging, Editorial, Amyloidosis

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Early Lyme disease

Article Abstract:

The case study of a 26-year-old woman patient presenting a low-grade fever, malaise, arthralgias, headache, and neck pain one week after removing a tick from her thigh is discussed. A diagnosis of Lyme disease is offered together with strategies and suggestions for the treatment and prevention of the disease.

United States, Case study

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