One Success Hurts Thousands Who Are Suffering

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Responds to NY Times Story

We are thrilled for the Mandavilli family, who shared that their son responded well to treatment for Lyme disease in The New York Times story My Son Got Lyme Disease. He’s Totally Fine. This is not the case for everyone, and it is irresponsible, and scientifically inaccurate, to blanketly define Lyme, and other tick-borne diseases, as “easily treated”. This one patient’s experience can be countered by hundreds of other patients whose disease has brought their lives to a halt. It does a huge disservice to patients whose families read stories like this and question the patient’s symptoms, and whose community doctors see reports like this and refuse much-needed treatment. The joy of the Mandavilli family should be heralded as a success but not an example.

The CDC has reported deaths due to Lyme disease beginning as early as 2013, with most caused by Lyme carditis, a condition in which the bacteria invades the heart. And, the ability of this bacteria to invade other organs, including the brain, and cause paralysis is well-documented. Several celebrities including Alec Baldwin, Avril Lavigne, Yolanda Hadid and Kelly Osborne have by their own accounts believed that they were near death due to Lyme disease. Clearly, the singular experience of the Mandavilli family is not broadly representative of what every person with Lyme experiences.

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Endorses First Recommendations of New HHS Working Group Focused on Tick-Borne Diseases

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Statement on the HHS Lyme Disease Roundtable
By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact:
Tara DiMilia, 908-947-0500, tara.dimilia@TMstrat.com

 

The Foundation encourages Congress to support the recommendations to fund efforts to increase scientific understanding of Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections

Portola Valley, Calif., November 14, 2018—Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the United States, offered their appreciation to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in response to The Tick-Borne Disease Working Group’s recommendation for increased Federal investment focused on Lyme disease awareness, education, diagnosis and treatment. This Federal Advisory Committee was enshrined in the 21st Century Cures Act, after years of work by Lyme disease advocates and their congressional representatives to review the Federal Government’s activities on tick-borne disease.

“This document represents an important first step by the U.S. federal government to recognize the need to better address tick-borne diseases,” said Wendy Adams, Research Grant Director, Bay Area Lyme Foundation and Member, Tick-Borne Disease Working Group.  “These recommendations make the powerful point that significant increases in federal government funding for tick-borne disease research are required before we can truly diagnose and treat tick-borne infections.”

While there are nearly 10 times as many people diagnosed each year with Lyme than HIV in the U.S., Lyme disease receives approximately 1% of the public funding that is allocated for HIV/AIDS.

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Now Accepting Applications for $450,000 in Emerging Leader Award Research Grants

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact:
Tara DiMilia, 908-947-0500, tara.dimilia@TMstrat.com

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Now Accepting Applications for $450,000 in Emerging Leader Award Research Grants

‘Emerging Leader Award’ aims to attract new scientific talent to address challenges of Lyme disease

Portola Valley, California, December 5, 2017—Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the US, today announced a call for applications for three Bay Area Lyme Foundation ‘Emerging Leader Award’ grants, one for $250,000 and the other two for $100,000. These awards will be given to promising scientists who embody the future of leadership in Lyme disease research in the US. The award recipients will be researchers in academia or the private sector who have demonstrated professional and scientific leadership in the biomedical sciences and who can offer scientific rationale for a research project that can advance diagnostics or treatments for Lyme disease.

Participating in Clinical Research: Another Treatment Alternative?

By Bay Area Lyme

Lyme disease, particularly with chronic or late-stage symptoms, can be a horribly frustrating and debilitating illness. Symptoms can persist despite complicated treatment regimens; therapies that seem successful at first may become less effective over time; and medications that work for some appear to have no effect for others. Add to that the high cost of treatment, the complicating challenges of co-infections, and insufficient insurance coverage for both traditional and alternative treatment, and it quickly becomes apparent why clinical studies offer potential for patients who are still suffering.

For many patients, the promise of participating in a clinical trial is not just the hope for new discoveries but a more immediate opportunity to access treatment options they may not otherwise be able to secure or afford. But is clinical research the “holy grail” for these patients who are seeking another option? What are the pros and cons of clinical research? What do you need to know?

It’s All In Your Head. …Or is it? A Physician’s Perspective

By Bay Area Lyme

It’s All In Your Head. …Or is it?
A Physician’s Perspective

Guest post: Dr. Elena Frid, MD

This week, we feature a guest post from Dr. Elena Frid, a board-certified NYC neurologist and specialist in Lyme disease and other vector-borne diseases. Dr. Frid has been recognized by her peers and patients for her innovative diagnostic methods and treatment regiments for a wide array of complex neuro-Lyme manifestations which often mimic other illnesses including multiple sclerosis (MS), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), various learning disabilities, Autism, Arthritis, Lupus, Alzheimer’s, Dementia, Parkinsons, anxiety/depression, intractable headaches, dizziness, insomnia, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) behavior, ticks and many more. Here, she shares her perspective on the complexities of treating these complex illnesses.

Over the years, I have seen numerous patients who complain of many neurologic and psychiatric conditions. Often, when a patient complains of more than one or two problems, many physicians can get overwhelmed. It is difficult to treat a patient who seems to have a multitude of problems that, at first glance, may not appear to be related. Part of the issue is that medicine is moving in the direction of treating symptoms, and not the underlying cause of the problem.

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Highlights Growth of Scientific Lyme Community in 2016

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact:
Tara DiMilia, 908-947-0500, tara.dimilia@TMstrat.com

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Highlights Growth of Scientific Lyme Community in 2016

Foundation demonstrates recruitment of new scientific talent through innovative programs

SILICON VALLEY, Calif., November 28, 2016—Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading public nonprofit funder of Lyme disease research in the US, today announced that the organization granted $1.75 million in 2016 for Lyme research and education. Over the year, the Foundation continued to demonstrate success in bringing new scientific talent to the fight against tick-borne diseases. The organization highlights the recipients of the 2016 grant cycle, outlines the benefits of the Foundation’s contributions to Lyme Innovation, and announces their national Lyme Disease Biobank.

Tick Saliva and Borrelia Spirochetes: A Novel Approach to Lyme Diagnostics

By Bay Area Lyme

grasperge_rev_lores-250-x-250Bay Area Lyme recognizes some of the most promising research projects and scientists in the field of Lyme Disease for its annual Emerging Leader Award. These scientists and project teams come from leading research institutions all over the country and are focused on some of the more innovative approaches to developing new diagnostics and treatments for this insidious disease. The award comes with $100,000 of project funding to help bring their research to the next stage of completion or proof-of-concept.

Here, we talked with one of this year’s winners, Britton Grasperge, DVM, PhD, DACVP, Assistant Professor at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA, as he discusses his novel approach to Lyme diagnostics and also what it’s like to connect the work that’s done in the lab to the very real stories of the human patients suffering through the disease. He was the recipient of the Alexandra Cohen Emerging Leader Award. Dr. Grasperge’s project is entitled “Identification of Tick Chemoattractant(s) for Borrelia burgdorferi.” The goal, he explains, is to design better diagnostics and to improve therapeutics for post-treatment Lyme disease patients who continue to have lingering symptoms even after having been treated. 

New Pathogen Discovered By Researchers Who Discovered Lyme – But Was Not Reported

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact:
Tara DiMilia, 908-947-0500, tara.dimilia@TMstrat.com

New Pathogen Discovered By Researchers Who Discovered Lyme – But Was Not Reported

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Responds to News Related to Initial Studies of Lyme Disease

Portola Valley, CA, October 12, 2016 – Bay Area Lyme Foundation, an organization dedicated to making Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure, is deeply disturbed by the news that researchers involved in the initial discoveries of Lyme disease omitted critical information related to additional bacteria that may have contributed to illness in early cases. This information was revealed in a story today in STAT News titled “The ‘Swiss Agent’: Long forgotten research unearths new mystery about Lyme disease.”

This new development clearly points to a critical need to reexamine much of the current orthodoxy in Lyme disease.

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Announces Winners of “Lyme Innovation” Hackathon at White House Event

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact:
Tara DiMilia, 908-947-0500, tara.dimilia@TMstrat.com

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Announces Winners of “Lyme Innovation” Hackathon at White House Event

White House Acknowledges Contributions of Program Organizers
Toward Solving Challenges of Lyme Disease

(Cambridge, MA,) October 5, 2016 — As part of the White House Open Data Innovation Summit, Bay Area Lyme Foundation, collaborating with the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network’s Dean Center for Tick Borne Illness, Harvard Medical School Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, MIT Hacking Medicine, University of California, Berkeley, and the Veterans Affairs Center for Innovation, announces the winning teams of Lyme Innovation.  Lyme Innovation is the first ever Hackathon for Lyme disease, which provided a forum for more than 100 scientists, clinicians, researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors from a variety of disciplines to brainstorm solutions for this potentially devastating disease.

Hope, Faith, and Perseverance — How One Family Overcame Lyme Disease

By Bay Area Lyme

Eliza Hemenway_HS_312Bay Area author and noted documentary filmmaker Eliza Hemenway recently turned her journalistic eye toward her own family to document a notably personal and tryingly poignant story about her family’s trials with Lyme disease and the baffling enigma that surrounds the illness and its treatment. Her daughter, Katherine, just seven years old when infected, suffered for years before successfully being diagnosed. And even after diagnosis, the family struggled to get the care they needed.

“I am a Bay Area mother who wrote Paris in Oakland to be a story of hope and encouragement to the Lyme community, something I desperately needed when my daughter was first diagnosed and I was trying to understand the controversies and confusion surrounding Lyme.