Congenital and Pediatric
What is congenital Lyme disease?
It has been shown that an infected mother can transmit the infections to the fetus https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/transmission/index.html which can cause many difficulties during childhood that often persist throughout the child’s life. Symptoms in children can be devastating to the health and well-being of the children and their families. Often mothers experience seemingly unrelated physical and psychiatric symptoms that are diagnosed as Lyme when their child is diagnosed, or vice versa.
Congenital playlist of Kristina's interviews can be found on her channel at: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL508_C5FvpgyvG9sotD7mylRv0lUYHd1T. One below is of Lyme expert, retired LLMD Dr. Ron Wilson.
ALWAYS CONSIDER CHECKING YOUR BABIES! THIS CAN BE A MULTI-GENERATIONAL ILLNESS. Do your puzzle pieces start to fit the congenital picture once you think through everyones history?
Congenital Transmission
Untreated Lyme disease during pregnancy can lead to infection of the placenta, states the CDC. Spread from mother to fetus is possible but rare. https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/transmission/index.html Note that not all fetus's infected gestationally with borrelia parish. A lot survive to live challenging lives sick left to be cared for by debilitated and sick parents.
Designating this a rare condition is absent of the fact that the traditional blood test fails 30-70% of the time.
GESTATIONAL (during pregnancy) LYME AND ASSOCIATED TICK-BORNE DISEASES:
white-paper by Dr. Ronald Wilson, OBYG, LLMD
Ticks carrying Lyme are present in all areas of the US and most countries. Lyme is the most rapidly growing vector-borne illness in the US, according to the CDC, with over 500,000 cases reported annually. It is poorly understood in general, and not often considered in the context of pregnancy. This is a tragic error, as failure to diagnose and treat in pregnancy can result in life-long, severe consequences to the mother and her infant. Fetal consequences include miscarriage, premature labor, cardiac and renal pathology, hydrocephalus, cortical blindness, IUGR, neonatal respiratory distress, fetal death, and SIDS.
MacDonald, A. Gestational Lyme Borreliosis. Implications for the Fetus. Rheum Dis Clin North Sm. 1989 Nov.
The following cites more than 40 peer-reviewed articles, including eight co-authored by IDSA/AAN/ACR 2020 Guidelines panelists, where Lyme disease in pregnancy was found to result in congenital infection of the newborn. These articles provide evidence of congenital infection with Lyme disease and adverse pregnancy outcomes in treated and untreated patients. Additional references are
included in Appendix A.
https://mothersagainstlyme.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/IDSA-Guidelines-Retraction-Request.pdf
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL508_C5FvpgyvG9sotD7mylRv0lUYHd1T
What is Pediatric Lyme, and what are possible symptoms to look for?
Difficulties can include psychiatric and physical symptoms. Every child is unique and can experience very different symptoms even within the same family. If your child suffers from one or more of these symptoms, seek an evaluation by a Lyme specialist (LLMD) properly educated with the most up to date science from www.ILADS.org.
Psychiatric symptoms may include:
Anxiety, Panic attacks
Learning differences
ADHD/ADD
Oppositional behavior
Slow processing
Depression
Obsessive compulsive disorder
Physical Symptoms
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Flu-like symptoms
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Body pain
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Arthritis
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Neuropathy
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Seizures
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Dizziness
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Constipation or diarrhea
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Sleep difficulties
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Vision irregularities
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Food sensitivities
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Bedwetting and Urinary issues
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Chest pain and or tachycardia
Publications from 2017 on Lyme Borreliosis Infection during Pregnancy:
1) https://www.jscimedcentral.com/ClinicalCytology/clinicalcytology-3-1085.pdf
Infection with Borrelia: Implications for Pregnancy – (e-chapter)
2) http://www.smgebooks.com/lyme-disease/chapters/LD-17-05.pdf
1: Gardner and other authors have conclusively shown that certain individuals infected with Borrelia acquired their disease gestationally. This is further supported by the finding of Borrelia in semen and by the similarity to which Treponema transmission has been abundantly documented in the literature.
2: Transplacental transmission has been clearly documented from case reports of infected fetuses
3: Complicating diagnosis even more, as previously displayed via case reports, serologic testing of mothers in post-partum period and their neonates is often negative.
4: It has been demonstrated that over 70% of neonates that have tissue verified borreliosis at the time of delivery, will NOT produce antibodies in sufficient quantity to be diagnosed as sero-positive.
5: Negative serology in the infant does not necessarily rule out the risk of congenital infection, since the majority of infants will indeed screen negative.
6: Transmission of Borrelia infection occurs via both zoonotic vectors AND other humans.
7: Congenital transfer is an established fact, and animal data in conjunction with other data support that sexual transfer can also occur.
8: Maternal to fetal transfer of Borrelia can furthermore be clinically silent or unrecognized, and if not successfully treated, infection can be life long, and latency, late activation and reactivation can occur.
Author lists several points which are evident from the review of current literature:
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-lack of tissue inflammation seen in tissues with evidence of spirochetes
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-significant discrepancy in maternal serology testing (serology often negative in mothers)
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-positive cultures of spirochetes from fetal organs
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-effects of infection during the first trimester with cardiac organogenesis
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-fetal growth restriction
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-mothers infected in 'non-endemic areas’
Video presentation on congenital Lyme
PP slides and references can be found here:
