bay area lyme Archives - Page 4 of 16 - Bay Area Lyme Foundation

Justin Timberlake’s Lyme Diagnosis and His Struggle to Be Believed

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

Bay Area Lyme Spotlights Series

Medical skepticism isn’t just cruel, it’s physically, mentally, and emotionally harmful.

When Justin Timberlake revealed his Lyme disease after weeks of criticism for low-energy performances during his recent tour, the Internet did what the Internet does: It immediately questioned whether he was telling the truth.

The skepticism was rife and merciless. Reddit threads quickly surfaced with accusations that he was making excuses, faking illness, or using Lyme as a convenient cover story. “There must be something else going on,” people assumed. “Chronic Lyme isn’t a thing,” they said.

While it’s almost expected to see anonymous Internet commenters take aim at a major celebrity going through a low point, for the millions of Americans living with Lyme disease, Timberlake’s experience is not surprising at all.

Teaching Kids to Protect Themselves from Tick Bites

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

Bay Area Lyme Spotlights Series

“Lyme and ticks are talked about a lot more! Students are showing peers their tick keys and sharing information, and even staff are discussing it around campus.”

– Melissa Kelly, teacher

Children are the most at-risk group for contracting tick-borne diseases, so Monterey Peninsula health educator, Melissa Kelly, gave her students an important assignment during Lyme Disease Awareness month: design a poster to teach their school community about Lyme and tick-borne diseases and how to prevent tick bites. Bay Area Lyme Foundation provided tick keys and educational materials to support Melissa’s teaching and curriculum. We asked Melissa to tell us about the project!

Q: Melissa, tell us about your school, where it’s located, and how you learned about Lyme disease awareness month.

A: Chartwell School is located in Seaside, California. We serve students with learning differences such as dyslexia and more. Our school community includes students from 1st to 12th grade. I work specifically with high school students. I first learned about Lyme Disease Awareness Month after my own experience with Lyme disease. Before teaching, I worked as a field biologist and likely contracted Lyme during my fieldwork. Thankfully, I was able to get it treated, and I am okay. That experience has kept me engaged with the latest research and studies on tick-borne diseases, which is how I learned about Lyme Awareness Month.

Dr. Joe Burrascano: A Masterclass on Tick-Borne Illness

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

Dr. Joe Burrascano

Dr. Joseph J. Burrascano Jr., a pioneer in the field of Lyme, began his practice in East Hampton, NY, in 1981, where he identified and detailed the clinical aspects of Lyme in a high-prevalence area. Renowned for his groundbreaking diagnostic and treatment guidelines since 1984, he has advised the CDC, NIH, and U.S. Senate, authored extensive publications, and is a founding member of ILADS, continuing to educate globally.

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New Bay Area Lyme Foundation Study Reports That Only One-Third of Early Lyme Patients with On-Going Symptoms Followed up with their Healthcare Providers

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New Bay Area Lyme Foundation Study Reports That Only One-Third of Early Lyme Patients with On-Going Symptoms Followed up with their Healthcare Providers

The new research, published in Frontiers in Medicine, points to need for greater follow-up from medical professionals to address potential treatment failures.

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., July 10, 2025—Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the US, announced the publication of new research in Frontiers in Medicine based on data from Bay Area Lyme Foundation’s Lyme Disease Biobank. This large-scale study conducted over 10 years at sites on the East Coast and the Upper Midwest demonstrates the need for improved diagnostics and increased follow-up by medical professionals for Lyme disease patients.

Only one-fifth of study participants (23%), enrolled with signs and symptoms of early Lyme, were positive by the CDC’s standard two-tiered test for Lyme disease, which supports previous research that found that it misses up to 70% of cases of early-stage Lyme disease. Further, approximately 1 in 5 patients reported ongoing symptoms at 3 months, including joint pain, fatigue, and muscle pain yet only one-third (35%) of these participants followed up with their healthcare providers about these ongoing symptoms. Due to difficulties in diagnosing Lyme disease and resulting treatment delays, as many as two million people may suffer from persistent Lyme disease, which can be debilitating.

Accurate, timely detection of Lyme disease is critical to preventing long-term complications. Moreover, follow-up from medical professionals with all patients after they complete antibiotic treatment could improve outcomes and reduce the burden of Lyme disease,” said lead author Liz Horn, PhD, MBI, Principal Investigator of Lyme Disease Biobank, a Bay Area Lyme Foundation program which helps to accelerate research by collecting, storing and providing much-needed human biological samples for use in research. “Our data also confirm the limitations of serology testing in early Lyme disease and after antibiotic treatment.”

Tick-borne Disease Prevention for City Employees

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

Bay Area Lyme Spotlights Series

“Tick-borne diseases are a growing public health concern in California and across the country. Educating the community and supporting prevention efforts is essential.”

– Guillermo Calvillo, Staff Specialist

For the past four years, Bay Area Lyme Foundation has partnered with the City of San Jose’s Environmental Services Division (ESD) to offer free tick-bite prevention and Lyme disease awareness training to employees whose jobs in the field place them at risk of exposure to ticks. As part of our ongoing education efforts, we spoke with Staff Specialist Guillermo Calvillo to learn more about his department’s work—and why tick-bite prevention matters to his team.

BAL: What do you do?

Calvillo: I work at the City of San Jose Environmental Services Division (ESD). I am in charge of all aspects of safety training and compliance for the entire ESD. I have been with the city for almost five years, and I have learned a great deal while enjoying being part of the ESD team.

The Lyme-Mold Connection: An Incredible Guide to Healing

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

Bay Area Lyme Quick Bites Series

“I think I prevented a lot of chronic Lyme cases by doing adequate early treatment. But I had a subset of patients who just were not getting better. These cases had either a current or a past exposure to mold.”

– Jill Crista, ND

In this latest episode of Ticktective^™, our host, Dana Parish, talks with Dr. Jill Crista, a leading expert on the diagnosis and treatment of toxic mold exposure and illness. Dr. Crista started her practice in southern Wisconsin, which is often in the top five states for Lyme disease cases, even though Lyme is often thought of as a Northeast issue.

Click here to watch or listen now.

Parish and Crista discuss the complex nature of mold toxicity, including its impact on the immune system, the brain, and various organ systems. Crista emphasizes the importance of identifying the underlying causes of mold exposure, such as water damage and poor indoor air quality, rather than just addressing the symptoms.

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Announces National Winner of the 2025 Emerging Leader Award to Develop a Much-Needed Rapid, Low-Cost, Easy-to-Use Lyme Disease Test

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Announces National Winner of the 2025 Emerging Leader Award to Develop a Much-Needed Rapid, Low-Cost, Easy-to-Use Lyme Disease Test

Winner Chao Wang of Arizona State University will receive $150,000 to evaluate a unique diagnostic that uses gold nanoparticles and has been proven in other infectious diseases

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., June 12, 2025—Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the US, has given its 2025 Emerging Leader Award (ELA) to Chao Wang, PhD, associate professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering at Arizona State University, faculty with ASU’s Biodesign Institute® and an expert in nanotechnology and biosensors. Wang will receive $150,000 to support his work to develop a much-needed rapid, low-cost, easy-to-use test, called Nano2RED-LD, for Lyme disease. The test aims to deliver results in as few as 30 minutes when a patient who may have Lyme disease first sees a doctor.

There is an immense need for better Lyme disease tests. Today’s standard-of-care tests miss too many cases at all stages of Lyme disease, including as many as 70% of early Lyme cases.

“With Lyme disease cases rising steadily across the U.S., the need for accurate and timely diagnostic tools has never been greater,” said Katariina Tuovinen, research grant director, Bay Area Lyme Foundation. “Dr. Wang’s pioneering work epitomizes the essence of this award as it applies innovation from other infectious diseases in an effort to enhance outcomes for patients affected by Lyme disease.”

Dr. Jill Crista: The Lyme-Mold Connection: An Incredible Guide to Healing

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

Dr. Jill Crista

Dr. Jill Crista is a pioneering naturopathic doctor, best-selling author, devoted educator, and creative innovator. Her superpower is to make complex medical concepts simple and digestible for the average person. Dr. Jill focuses on conditions that cause injury to the brain and nervous system, including mold, PANS and PANDAS, Lyme disease, and concussion.

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Science Translational Medicine Study Funded by the Bay Area Lyme Foundation Identifies FDA-approved Piperacillin as More Effective, Targeted Treatment for Lyme Disease

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Science Translational Medicine Study Funded by the Bay Area Lyme Foundation Identifies FDA-approved Piperacillin as More Effective, Targeted Treatment for Lyme Disease

An additional Science Translational Medicine study also funded by Bay Area Lyme Foundation uncovers how lingering bacterial cell wall molecules may contribute to chronic Lyme symptoms

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif. April 23, 2025 – Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the US, announces two pre-clinical studies published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Translational Medicine. The studies demonstrate promising implications for improved Lyme disease treatment and understanding of chronic Lyme through peptidoglycan, a molecule found in the cell wall of the bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb), which causes Lyme disease. The first study finds piperacillin, an FDA-approved treatment for pneumonia that inhibits peptidoglycan production, may be a more effective treatment for Lyme disease than the current “gold standard” treatment, doxycycline, which is not effective for up to 20% of patients. The second study uncovers how lingering peptidoglycan builds up in the joint fluid and liver, contributing to chronic Lyme symptoms, which affect over 20% of patients treated for Lyme disease.

“Piperacillin may be a game-changer for improving Lyme disease treatment, which is currently a challenge for researchers and physicians. Furthermore, our new mechanistic understanding of how piperacillin affects peptidoglycan synthesis is unexpectedly informing our development of a biomarker-based approach to diagnose acute Lyme disease,” said Brandon Jutras, PhD, associate professor of Microbiology-Immunology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and a Bay Area Lyme Foundation 2021 Emerging Leader Award winner. “Our second study explores the role of peptidoglycan in chronic Lyme symptoms; peptidoglycan influences an inflammatory and chronic illness response for weeks or even months after infection, adding to the growing evidence that remnants of bacteria and viruses can stick around and keep affecting the body, similar to the occurrence of Long COVID in some patients.”

Nancy Haney’s Death: A Tragic Story of Misdiagnosis, Delayed Diagnosis, and Medical Failure

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

Bay Area Lyme Spotlights Series

“If you have someone who’s sick and you are treating them and they’re not getting better, then either the treatment is wrong or the diagnosis is wrong.”

– David Haney, PhD

Nancy Haney was a highly respected pediatric physical therapist who developed serious health problems that were misdiagnosed over many years, leading to delays in treatment. After exhaustive efforts, it was determined that Nancy had developed an autoimmune condition—likely triggered by Lyme disease—that resulted in debilitating symptoms and complications, including a long-lasting case of shingles, which eventually led to a fatal hemorrhagic stroke. David Haney, Nancy’s husband, recounts his tireless pursuit to find Nancy appropriate care and treatment. Despite his efforts, the mainstream medical system repeatedly failed to correctly diagnose and treat Nancy’s underlying conditions, which led to a tragic and preventable outcome.

David’s story is a call to action for greater awareness, more comprehensive training for doctors, and a fundamental shift in the medical community’s approach to complex, multifaceted infection-associated chronic conditions. Nancy’s case highlights the critical need for improved awareness, diagnostic tools, and treatment approaches for complex cases involving Lyme and tick-borne diseases. Only then can we hope to prevent other families from enduring the same treatment failures as the Haney family.