#ptld

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have documented changes in the brains of patients with post-treatment Lyme disease that may explain symptoms such as brain fog, memory loss and other cognitive issues. The finding could also have implications for patients with fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue and other health conditions who have cognitive problems.

Lyme disease is a bacterial illness spread by ticks that causes a rash, flu-like aches and fever, joint pain and fatigue. Most patients fully recover when treated early with antibiotics, but up to 20% of those with post-treatment Lyme disease (PTLD) have long-term symptoms, including depression, insomnia and cognitive difficulties. There is usually no clinical or laboratory evidence to explain their ongoing issues.

“Objective biologic measures of post-treatment Lyme symptoms typically can’t be identified using regular MRIs, CT scans, or blood tests,” says John Aucott, MD., director of the Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Clinical Research Center.

Aucott and his colleagues recruited 12 PTLD patients and 18 people without a history of Lyme to undergo functional MRI (fMRI) scans while performing a short-term memory task. The scans allow investigators to track blood flow and other changes in the brain in real time.

Their findings, published in the journal PLOS ONE, linked the cognitive difficulties in PTLD patients to functional and structural changes in the “white matter” of the brain, which is crucial for processing and relaying information. The imaging tests revealed unusual activity in the frontal lobe, an area of the brain responsible for memory recall and concentration. That finding correlated to patients with post-treatment Lyme needing longer periods of time to complete the memory task.

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