Lyme Disease: Men vs. Women

The CDC suggests that more men are diagnosed with Lyme disease than women. Do more men actually contract Lyme disease?

This statement is not a clear-cut answer as to whether more men contract Lyme than women. Studies suggest that gender bias could be a factor in Lyme diagnoses, and because of this bias, more women are reported to have chronic Lyme disease.

gender bias in lyme testing

Lyme testing gender bias is easily explained.

The CDC western blot test requires reaction of five out of 10 bands to be present for a positive Lyme diagnosis. Men generally have six of 10 bands react, while women present with four, leading to a negative Lyme test. Studies suggest that due to this bias in testing, more women end up with chronic Lyme disease simply because of non-diagnosis. These patients are also commonly misdiagnosed with conditions that have similar symptoms to Lyme, such as chronic fatigue or Fibromyalgia.

Lyme disease testing gender bias

Also read: Lyme Symptoms That Might Surprise You

While the CDC Lyme disease surveillance reports more men with Lyme disease than women, another reporting agency, FAIR Health, says that more women file health insurance claims in treating the disease. Between the ages of 23 and 50, twice as many Lyme disease insurance claims were file by women than men. This is a truly odd phenomena – more men test positive, but more women are actually treated for the disease. Should Lyme disease testing for females meet different criteria than males? Early treatment is essential. If women are showing negative Lyme disease tests, but actually do have the disease, it can become a lifelong battle with chronic illness – and a lifelong battle in finding appropriate treatment.

Also read: 83% of enrolled persistent Lyme sufferers at MyLymeData are female.

Additional studies show that women and men react differently to medications. Women are more likely to have adverse effects to medication than men, suggesting that perhaps medication should be formulated differently by gender. Would this be an answer for more effective treatment of Lyme disease in women?

Tick protection is key in preventing Lyme.

Dave Macchia, tick control enthusiast — Dave Macchia, Central Mass tick control enthusiast

No matter if you are male or female, prevention is key, and can be aided with personal tick protection when you are out of doors. In addition to personal protection, at-home tick control can help prevent unfortunate tick encounters in your own yard. With the prevalence of ticks in Central Mass, professional tick control is essential, and is most effectively employed all year long – not just in the spring and summer. In the warm weather seasons, your yard can be treated with a tick barrier spray that will eliminate ticks on contact, and continue killing them for up to three weeks. When the temperature falls below 45°F, tick tubes can be placed in your yard, which will aid in halting the tick life cycle, resulting in less ticks when springtime rolls around.

Lyme Disease in Children and Teens

With an estimated 300,000 newly reported cases of Lyme in the United States each year, 25% are children. Lyme remains so misunderstood and debated in the worldwide medical community, those numbers are believed to be even higher.

With much controversy surrounding the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease, children are caught in the shuffle, often falling in the cracks. Some are outright denied Lyme testing by doctors, who proclaim it is unnecessary, because the disease doesn’t occur where they live. Imagine if this were your child.

children and teens with Lyme — There is much mystery surrounding Lyme disease in children and teens.

Facts about Lyme disease in children and teens:

There are an average of 205 reported cases of Lyme disease in children each day in the United States – 75,000 per year.
That’s more than all cases of pediatric cancer, epilepsy, type 1 diabetes, and Cystic Fibrosis diagnoses combined.

Children between ages 5 and 9 are at greatest risk for Lyme disease.
Kids are more active outdoors, and are closer to the ground. Boys are at greater risk than girls in this age group.

Children often do no present with the tell-tale bullseye rash.
Pediatric Lyme disease specialist, Dr. Charles Ray Jones, reports that less than 10% of his 15,000 pediatric Lyme disease cases actually had the bullseye rash.

Symptoms of Lyme disease in children are difficult to pin down.
There is no guideline for symptoms of Lyme disease in children, as they are sporadic, and can present in very different ways. Loss of focus, inability to sleep, fatigue, difficulty in school, behavioral changes, and joint pain are a few of the symptoms that kids might endure with Lyme.

Lyme disease in kids — Kids are more susceptible to neuropsychiatric Lyme symptoms.

It is suggested that children might be more susceptible to neurological symptoms of Lyme.
It is theorized that if children are bitten on the head and neck, that neurological Lyme can occur, since the bite is closer to the nervous system. Lyme infection can act as a trigger for neuropsychiatric disorders, which can cause OCD, Anorexia, nervous tics, and others.

Children and teens with Lyme suffer socially.
Illness and symptoms of Lyme, along with the stress they create for children and teens, will often lead to loss of friends. Depression is very common, and as many as 41% of children and teens with Lyme disease report having had suicidal thoughts.

Proper diagnoses require more than traditional Lyme disease testing for children.
Children are commonly mis-diagnosed, or not diagnosed at all because traditional testing methods can come back negative, even though Lyme is present. A Lyme specialist will order additional testing required for the proper diagnosis of Lyme disease in children.

As diagnosing and treating Lyme disease in children is an evolving science, it is incumbent on parents to advocate for their sick child to rule in or out Lyme. It is also important to protect our children from the threat of Lyme and other tick-borne illnesses with professional tick control around our homes. The single best hope for our children is preventing Lyme disease in the first place.

Lyme disease: Rapid testing in 2020?

Lyme disease testing has long been a lengthy process. Thanks to researchers at Cornell University, that could be changing.

Anyone, who has ever undergone Lyme disease testing, knows the perils of getting a clear diagnosis. They are also familiar with how involved the process of testing for Lyme antibodies is. Researchers at Cornell’s McGovern Center are working to drastically shorten the process of diagnosing Lyme.

Scientists are hopeful the new Lyme detection testing will be available by late 2020

With more than 30,000 reported cases of Lyme disease each year, and an estimated ten times that amount un-reported, these new testing methods could mean faster treatment of Lyme, with fewer cases of chronic disease symptoms. The majority of Lyme cases are cured with a short course of doxycycline, but rapid detection is key.

chronic Lyme disease — *New testing method can reportedly detect whether an infection is new or old*

Not only is the new rapid Lyme detection testing able to detect new infections, it can also identify old infections, as Lyme antibodies can linger for decades. This means that those, who might never have been diagnosed with Lyme, but have suffered symptoms for years, could now get a diagnosis.

Current Lyme testing, even on patients with the disease-identifying bullseye rash, can take weeks

Lyme disease bullseye rash Lyme disease marker proteins are present in very low levels, and are difficult to detect. For this reason, multiple tests are required to achieve a clear diagnosis, even on patients, who already have symptoms. The new test is purported to identify those disease markers directly with one small blood sample. The rapid test targets a protein that provides an “active-protein fingerprint” left by Lyme-causing bacteria. The new test is said to be moving from the lab, and onto approvals, production, and finally doctors’ offices in 2020, thanks to a FuzeHub grant.

The prevalence of Lyme is in the northeastern United States

Most cases of Lyme disease happen right in our own backyards. The northeastern U.S. has the highest incidences of this nasty disease, with most infections occurring between the months of May and October. Central mass tick control is important for your family’s health, not just for Lyme, but other tick-borne illnesses like Babesiosis and Powassan virus. I implore you to use Permethrin and perform a tick check after a day spent hiking, at the park, or at the beach – for your whole family, even pets! I also recommend at-home tick protection.