Lyme Disease May Lead to Hepatitis

[Hep Editors]

In the journal, Research Open Access, scientists recently wrote about a 53-year-old woman with persistent Lyme disease who ended up developing acute hepatitis along with raised liver enzyme levels while taking antibiotic treatment for the disease.

Ticks spread Lyme disease to humans by transmitting Borrelia burgdorferi, which is a corkscrew-shaped bacteria known as a spirochete. Researchers say they took a liver biopsy of the woman and found evidence of active Borrelia burgdorferi infection there, which corresponded to evidence of the infection found in blood samples. The investigators ruled out other causes of hepatitis in the woman.

Read more… http://www.hepmag.com/articles/lyme_disease_2501_25844.shtml

[lporterrn]

Thank you for this. This article is a good opportunity to say that the word "hepatitis" literally means inflammation of the liver. There are many causes of hepatitis, such as alcohol, drugs, toxins, and autoimmune diseases, and of course viruses (hep A, B, C, etc). Most of us who use this forum have hepatitis C, and we need to protect ourselves from other forms of hepatitis. That is one of the reasons why drinking alcohol is not a good idea when you have hep C. It looks like maybe we should add taking precautions to avoid tick bites to the list.