lyme article: the children of lyme

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The Children of Lyme Disease
Charles Ray Jones, MD Pediatrician, Private Practice, New Haven, CT

Current research indicates that the Lyme disease bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, can be transmitted within hours after an infected tick attachment. Failure of parents and teachers to recognize Lyme disease early in its course can result in a child developing a chronic difficult to treat infection in the brain, eyes, joints, heart and elsewhere in the body.


In my experience treating 7,000+ children birth to 18 with Lyme disease, 50% have no tick attachment history, 10% or less have an erythema migrans (bullseye rash) history, but all have a history of living in or having visited a Lyme endemic area and have a decline in the way they play and perform in school.


They are tired, wilt easily, have dark circles under their eyes and are sick. Lyme disease has a profound negative impact on a child's life, cognitive function and ability to perform maximally in school. Severe fatigue unrelieved by rest results in decreased stamina and a decreased ability to play and to do school work. Insomnia, headaches, nausea, abdominal pain, impaired concentration, poor short-term memory, an inability to sustain attention, confusion, uncharacteristic behavior outbursts and mood swings, fevers/chills, joint pain, dizziness, noise and light sensitivity, and difficulty thinking, expressing thoughts, reading, writing, and making decisions as well as a feeling of being overwhelmed by schoolwork plague a child with Lyme disease. Pain and impaired cognitive function make it difficult to sustain attention and to learn and recall new material.


Although Lyme is usually transmitted by Ixodes scapularis (deer) and Amblyomma americanum (lone star) ticks, it can also be transmitted in utero and through breast milk. These children, frequently floppy with poor muscle tone, are irritable and ill early in their lives with frequent fevers, increased incidence of ear and throat infections, pneumonia, joint and body pain. They have gastroesophageal reflux, small windpipes (tracheomalacia), cataracts and other eye problems, developmental delay, learning disabilities, and psychiatric problems.

All respond to months or years of continuous antibiotic therapy.

When Lyme disease is a possible diagnosis, the children should be evaluated by a Lyme knowledgeable physician who will continue antibiotic therapy until all Lyme symptoms resolve. In most circumstances, Ixodes scapularis tick attachment should be treated with one month of antibiotic therapy.