Chronic Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases are continuing to increase throughout the world. With the ongoing non-specific symptoms and often an absence of a tick bite history, the disease is frequently not recognised or diagnosed correctly. There are also unusual presentations of Lyme and chronic tick-borne infections that practitioners need to be aware of, including congenital Lyme and specific neurologic presentations. Testing can be difficult with many of the traditional laboratories missing the diagnosis. Once the diagnosis is made, it is important to treat the infections plus the additional pathologic issues that accompany the infection, such as mitochondrial dysfunction and inflammation. Overall, treating chronic Lyme and co-infections needs to be a comprehensive integrative approach to best help patient recovery.
Learning Objectives
- Learn about the different presentations of chronic Lyme and tick-borne infections including Babesia and Bartonella.
- Discuss options for testing for all tick-borne infections and how to interpret the results.
- Learn about treatment protocols for the infections plus supporting additional issues that are common in chronic Lyme patients such as mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, mast cell activation issues, immune dysfunction, and inflammation.
