Chester County Medicine Spring 2021 - 17

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CONSIDER MEMBERSHIP
in The Chester County Medical Society

Join Us!

Established in 1828, the Chester County
Medical Society, founded by Dr. William
Darlington, M.D., is thought to be the oldest
county medical society in the State. The
Medical Society is involved in all aspects of
healthcare policy, practice, and education and
serves to advance the health of the community
and to protect and expand the healthcare
resources available to its citizens.
T he Chester County Medical Society works
collaboratively with the Pennsylvania
Medical Society, but our focus is on our local
community. The Society's role in Chester
County is to support, protect, and advocate
for our physicians and our patients. We look
forward to growing an important healthcare
service for our community that will benefit us
all, and we look forward to hearing from you.

Member Benefits

Help Patients Find You! CCMS Members are listed in the Pennsylvania Medical Society's
" Find a Physician " program.
Legislative Support Representation with local legislators. Contact your local legislator
by getting their contact information provided on our Legislator page.
General Membership Meeting General Membership Meeting - an annual meeting
which provides members the opportunity to impact their Society's activities and goals.
Legislative Dinner - " aka The Clam Bake " - an annual dinner for members to meet local
legislators in an informal setting - stay tuned for more details about the 2020 Clam Bake
in our Summer edition.
Chester County Medicine Chester County Medicine has been the CCMS's official
publication for several decades. CCMS members will receive a complimentary
subscription to Chester County Medicine magazine, the Society's new twist on its
longtime quarterly publication.

DocBookMD - an exclusive HIPAA-secure messaging application for smart phone
and tablet devices.

To learn more, join or renew, visit https://www.pamedsoc.org/about-pamed/Membership

A fairly common reason we do
not find antibodies to Lyme disease
in patients who present with the
typical Lyme symptoms is that they
may be infected with a Lyme-like
bacteria, Borrelia miyamotoi, a " cousin "
of Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria
responsible for Lyme disease. The
tests that are commonly performed
look for the antibodies to Borrelia
burgdorferi, but will not detect the
antibodies that are produced by the
immune system in response to Borrelia
miyamotoi, although occasionally we
see some cross-reactive antibodies on
the usual Lyme test. In that situation,
the interpretation of the Lyme test
would be " negative, " meaning that
there are not sufficient levels of the
antibodies to confirm the presence
of Lyme disease, though one or more

antibodies, or " bands " on the Lyme test,
may be present. The CDC interpretation
of the Western Blot calls for at least 5
antibodies (or " bands " ) on the Western
Blot, but in the case of the B. miyamotoi
infections, we may find only one antibody.
There are specialized tests for confirming
Borrelia miyamotoi, and they need to
be ordered when patients present with
symptoms or history suspicious for Lyme
disease and negative Lyme ELISA and
Western Blot.
What are the symptoms of
B. miyamotoi disease?
Since this infection is less recognized,
many patients and their doctors may
not think of testing or treating it. In a
study conducted in 2015 of patients
with this infection, the most common

symptoms were headache and malaise,
and occasionally, fever, and chills. Other
common symptoms included body and
joint pain, numbness and tingling and
fatigue. Patients do not develop the
rash that would be recognized as Lyme
disease. I often see patients with some of
the neuropsychiatric manifestations of
Lyme-like illnesses: unexpected increase in
anxiety, mood changes, and sleep problems
(increased need for sleep or occasionally,
insomnia and irritability). Some people
may develop intermittent fevers. Borrelia
miyamotoi is treated with the same
antibiotics that we use to treat Lyme
disease.

continued on next page >

SPRING 2021 | CHESTER COUNT Y Medicine 17
http://www.chestercms.org https://www.pamedsoc.org/about-pamed/Membership
Chester County Medicine Spring 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chester County Medicine Spring 2021
