2-Minute Neuroscience: Lyme Disease & the Brain

Lyme disease is a tick-borne illness that can affect systems throughout the body, including the nervous system. This video discusses Lyme disease and how it affects the nervous system to cause a condition called Lyme neuroborreliosis.

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TRANSCRIPT

Lyme disease is a tick-borne illness caused by a group of bacteria belonging to the genus Borrelia. The initial sign of a borrelia infection in most people is a skin rash at the location of the tick bite, which is often accompanied by flu-like symptoms. If the disease isn’t treated in this early stage, over the following weeks or months a patient may develop other symptoms that indicate the disease is spreading throughout the body and impacting other bodily systems, such as the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems. At this time, Lyme disease may also affect the nervous system and cause neurological symptoms.

When Lyme disease affects the nervous system, the resulting condition is called Lyme neuroborreliosis. The symptoms of Lyme neuroborreliosis vary, but common manifestations include facial nerve palsy and other symptoms related to the dysfunction of cranial or peripheral nerves, and meningitis, which is an inflammation of the meninges. Some patients may also experience psychological symptoms, including depression, difficulty concentrating, disrupted sleep, and memory impairment. A small number of patients report symptoms that persist after treatment, although more research needs to be done to determine the origin of these ongoing issues.

Borrelia bacteria don’t produce any toxins, and thus it is thought that most of the problems associated with Lyme disease are due to side effects of the immune response to the presence of the bacterium. The main culprit is thought to be inflammation, which is a general reaction of the immune system to any potentially harmful or foreign substance. Borrelia are capable of causing a disproportionately strong inflammatory reaction, and this inflammation might be responsible for disrupting brain function. Some evidence, however, also suggests borrelia might be able to directly damage brain cells. Thus, more research needs to be done to determine clearly all of the ways Lyme disease might cause neurological effects.


REFERENCES

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Steere AC, Strle F, Wormser GP, Hu LT, Branda JA, Hovius JW, Li X, Mead PS. Lyme borreliosis. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2016 Dec 15;2:16090. doi: 10.1038/nrdp.2016.90. Erratum in: Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2017 Aug 03;3:17062. doi: 10.1038/nrdp.2017.62. PMID: 27976670; PMCID: PMC5539539.

Bullseye Lyme disease rash image credit: Hannah Garrison, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...

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