Case: Reversible Dementia Caused by Lyme Disease

Annals of Geriatric Medicine and Research (Sanchini, C., et al.) 2.6.23, published “A case of reversible dementia? Dementia vs delirium in Lyme disease.” The report details the case of a 75-year-old man who was admitted to the Alzheimer’s Disease Care Unit of the Institute Golgi (Abbiategrasso, Italy).

According to the report, the patient had been recently discharged from a local hospital with a diagnosis of “cognitive impairment, deficit of memory, and poor capacity of criticism compatible with degenerative disease.”

The patient enjoyed walking in the countryside with his dog and had been experiencing knee pain for about a month─ pain that would worsen and migrate to his other joints. He had also been showing a minor memory deficiency and ideomotor slowdown. A CT showed abnormalities while blood tests were within normal ranges, except for increased inflammation. He became more confused and disoriented, presenting with hallucinations, aggressive behavior, and insomnia.

Because of the arthritis, he was tested for infective causes, and Lyme antibodies were detected via Western blotting. Initial intravenous ceftriaxone treatments did not alleviate the patient’s symptoms. Oral doxycycline was administered as well as a brief course of quetiapine to manage the hallucinations. After 6–7 days of doxycycline therapy, the patient’s symptoms either diminished or completely resolved.

For more information:

Read the case report in Annals of Geriatric Medicine and Research.

Read more about dementia and Lyme disease.