Elizabeth “Betty” Maloney, MD, May Awareness Guest Blog – Lyme Disease: Cranial Neuritis

May Awareness LDA Guest Blogger

Dr. Elizabeth Maloney photo

Dr. Elizabeth L. Maloney is a Minnesota family physician. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Medical School and its affiliated Family Medicine residency. Her current focus is on tick-borne diseases education and policy. She began providing comprehensive, evidence-based, accredited continuing medical education courses for physicians in 2007 and subsequently became the founder and president of Partnership for Tick-borne Diseases Education, a non-profit organization providing online and live evidence-based continuing medical education programming and materials on tick-borne diseases for physicians and other healthcare professionals. The hallmark of her teaching is that it represents a broad-based and detailed evaluation of the evidence. Dr. Maloney has authored several peer-reviewed papers on Lyme disease, including GRADE-based treatment guidelines. The hallmark of all of her work is that it represents a broad-based and detailed evaluation of the evidence.

Dr. Maloney also acts as a consultant to government agencies and private organizations. She was an appointed member of the 2021 federal advisory committee, Tick-Borne Disease Working Group (TBDWG); prior to that appointment she worked on three different subcommittees of the TBDWG. Dr. Maloney was a peer reviewer for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. She has also provided testimony regarding tick-borne disease to several state legislative committees. Dr. Maloney enjoys speaking to the general public on tick-borne diseases, where she emphasizes the need to consistently use readily available tick bite prevention strategies. 

 

Lyme Disease: Cranial Neuritis

Summary of Video Blog: This is a narrated PowerPoint May Lyme Awareness Blog by Dr. Elizabeth Maloney on “Lyme Disease: Cranial Neuritis”. This presentation discusses how Lyme disease can affect the cranial nerves and provides details about the symptoms and signs associated with cranial neuritis. This information may help people with Lyme cranial neuritis to be diagnosed and treated as early as possible.

References:
• Reik L. Chapter 13: Neurological Aspects of North American Lyme Disease. In: Coyle PK, Lyme Disease. Mosby Inc; 1993:101-112.
• Halperin JJ. Nervous system Lyme disease. J Neurol Sci. 1998 Jan 8;153(2):182-91. doi: 10.1016/s0022-510x(97)00290-6. PMID: 9511877.
• Pachner AR, Steiner I. Lyme neuroborreliosis: infection, immunity, and inflammation. Lancet Neurol 2007;6:544–52.
• Maloney EL. The Need for Clinical Judgment in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Lyme Disease. JPANDS. 2009;14(3):82-9.
• Trevejo RT, Krause PJ, Sikand VK, et al. Evaluation of two-test serodiagnostic method for early Lyme disease in clinical practice. J Infect Dis 1999;179:931-938.
• Ledue TB, Collins MF, Craig WY. New laboratory guidelines for serologic diagnosis of Lyme disease: evaluation of the two-test protocol. J Clin Microbio 1996;34:2343-50.
• Craft JE, Grodzicki RL, Shrestha M, Fischer DK, García-Blanco M, Steere AC. The antibody response in Lyme disease. Yale J Biol Med. 1984 Jul-Aug;57(4):561-5. PMID: 6393607; PMCID: PMC2590019.
• Craft JE, Fischer DK, Shimamoto GT, Steere AC. Antigens of Borrelia burgdorferi recognized during Lyme disease. Appearance of a new immunoglobulin M response and expansion of the immunoglobulin G response late in the illness. J Clin Invest. 1986 Oct;78(4):934-9. doi: 10.1172/JCI112683.
• Dressler F, Whalen JA; Reinhardt BN; Steere AC. Western blotting in the serodiagnosis of Lyme disease. J Infect Dis1993; 167(2): 392 -400.