Late Lyme Disease and Severe Fatigue: Very Rarely Linked

After lengthy follow-up, 9 of 100 adults with culture-proven Lyme disease had severe fatigue, but in no case was it attributable to Lyme disease.

Fatigue is common during early Lyme disease and has been thought to be a prominent symptom in some patients much later on, including after antibiotic therapy and the resolution of objective symptoms. To further explore this idea, investigators in New York conducted a study involving 100 patients who had presented >10 years earlier with erythema migrans and had a positive culture for Borrelia burgdorferi. All had been prospectively followed since diagnosis to determine long-term outcomes.

In this study conducted between 2011 and 2013, 100 participants (mean age, 64.9; mean follow-up from time of early Lyme disease diagnosis, 15.4 years) were evaluated using the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), a self-administered 11-item questionnaire about fati…

Reviewing Author

Neil M. Ampel, MD

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Editorial BoardsUpToDate

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesCoccidioidomycosis Study Group (Past President, Secretary, Treasurer)

Neil M. Ampel, MD

Disclosures

Editorial BoardsUpToDate

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesCoccidioidomycosis Study Group (Past President, Secretary, Treasurer)

Late Lyme Disease and Severe Fatigue: Very Rarely Linked

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Reviewing Author