09-06-2014
Marianne J Middelveen1, Steve A McClain2, 3, Cheryl Bandoski4, Joel R Israel3, Jennie Burke5, Alan B MacDonald1, Arun Timmaraju3, Eva Sapi4, Yean Wang5, Agustin Franco5, Peter J Mayne1, Raphael B Stricker1 (rstricker at usmamed dot com) #
1 International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society, Bethesda, MD, USA. 2 Departments of Dermatology and Emergency Medicine, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY, USA. 3 McClain Laboratories LLC, Smithtown, NY, USA. 4 Department of Biology and Environmental Science, University of New Haven, West Haven, CT, USA. 5 Australian Biologics, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Although Lyme borreliosis has been linked to hepatitis in early stages of infection, the association of chronic Borrelia burgdorferi infection with hepatic disease remains largely unexplored. We present the case of a 53-year-old woman diagnosed with Lyme disease who developed acute hepatitis with elevated liver enzymes while on antibiotic treatment. Histological examination of liver biopsy tissue revealed spirochetes dispersed throughout the hepatic parenchyma, and the spirochetes were identified as Borrelia burgdorferi by molecular testing with specific DNA probes. Motile spirochetes were also isolated from the patient’s blood culture, and the isolate was identified as Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto by two independent laboratories using molecular techniques. These findings indicate that the patient had active, systemic Borrelia burgdorferi infection and consequent Lyme hepatitis, despite antibiotic therapy.
http://www.labome.org/research/Granulom ... eport.html