Tick-borne diseases plus Covid-19 make for a ‘newly emerging, confusing, and deadlier infectious diseases mix’

In areas that are endemic for Lyme and related tick-borne diseases, especially during tick season (early spring to late fall), physicians must now consider the possibility of three potential disease scenarios: aCovid-19, Lyme and related tick-borne diseases, and simultaneous infection involving Covid-19 and Lyme and related tick-borne diseases.

The treatment of Lyme and related tick-borne infections is difficult. The reason for this difficulty is due to the fact that tick-borne Diseases are multipathogenic events. This scenario is further compounded by the fact that Lyme and related tick-borne diseases can cause immune dysfunction. Thus, an immune system that is currently under stress is further weakened by the addition of both non-tick-borne infections, additional opportunistic pathogens, and non-infectious diseases.

The arrival of a new respiratory viral pathogen, namely, Coronavirus Covid-19, in patients that have an overburdened immune that is dealing with Lyme and related tick-borne infections are now in a more dangerous and deadlier situation. In “How Can I Get Better: An Action Plan for Treating Resistant Lyme and Chronic Disease,” RI Horowitz has noted that Lyme and related tick-borne diseases have ability to “mimic” a variety of commonplace illnesses such as: chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s Disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, brain fog, cognitive diseases, anxiety, and depression.

Coronavirus Covid-19 has displayed hallmark symptoms as: fever, cough, fatigue, and shortness of breath, large vessel stroke. Covid-19 is able to infect other parts of the body as well.

The early investigations of L. Mao., et al., noted that this virus has beenalso shown to also cause variety of neurological manifestations such as: cerebrovascular diseases, cognition issues, brain fogs, and impaired consciousness. The literature notes that in many cases of Covid-19 involving Children there was neurological involvement without any of the hallmarkclassical respiratory symptoms.

There has recently arisen case scenarios manifesting lingering symptoms after their viral carriage test were negative. This group of individuals with lingering symptoms have been designated as “long haulers.”

In “Covid-19 and Lyme disease have more in common than you might think,” in Lyme Disease News, J. Stone noted that even though Lyme Disease is caused by a bacterial agent called Borrelia burgdorferi, and Covid-19 is caused by a virus CoV-2. These two disease states shared similarities as relates to some of the symptoms.

I would like to acknowledge the support given to me by the TBD Support Network Inc., Milford.