Thread by @LonnieRhea

John Aucott, MD @JohnsHopkinsSPH presenting his brain imaging study. #LivLymeSummit @liv_lyme

@JohnsHopkinsSPH @liv_lyme Aucott | "Lyme disease is a disease of many stages" "without treatment it can progress to chronic infection"
"Lyme disease loves to go to the nervous system" Encephalopathy common in untreated patients, can also happen when under-treated.
#LivLymeSummit

@JohnsHopkinsSPH @liv_lyme Aucott | tackling the controversy of "chronic Lyme disease" is divided into categories:
Lyme, non-Lyme (other), post-treatment Lyme, CFS/Fibro, late Lyme arthritis & late Lyme encephalopathy. (Note: PTLDS is a research definition that describes a very specific set of patients)

@JohnsHopkinsSPH @liv_lyme Aucott | Brain study shows, "real measurable" changes in the brains (white matter) of patients with Lyme. The scans matched with the patients complaints of extreme fatigue, memory impairment, cognitive decline, pain, and lower QOL. -> lymedisease.org/brain-inflamma… #LivLymeSummit

@JohnsHopkinsSPH @liv_lyme Aucott | a marker (TSPO) allows the PET scan to detect brain inflammation. Demonstrates glial inflammation. The brains of Lyme patients showed diffuse inflammation.

@JohnsHopkinsSPH @liv_lyme Aucott| main take-away "post-treatment Lyme symptoms are real!"

Multiple possibilities for the brain inflammation:
Immune dysregulation
Persistent Bb antigens or ongoing infection
Neural network alteration

@JohnsHopkinsSPH @liv_lyme Aucott | "main risk factor for PTLDS was misdiagnosis" "there is research to demonstrate maternal transmission" "there is no approved treatment for PTLDS" #LivLymeSummit