There is no controversy over the Lyme bacteria’s ability to invade the brain.
Here, there was a look at brain Lyme or Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB). They report that office and radiology tests are highly variable and not clearly specific for Lyme, delaying diagnosis and treatment. So they explored MRI patterns in those with neurological Lyme. Was there any pattern or possible MRI patterns?
They looked at Embase and PubMed databases, and thirty-six cases of confirmed LNB encephalomyelitis [Lyme infection of the brain] were analyzed. The median time to diagnosis was 3 months.
Only a third had a tick bite. So the many ways ticks turn off your sensitivity likely worked in many. One third of patients had a history of tick bite.
Common Symptoms and Signs
- gait disorder (74%),
- headache (71%),
- fatigue (48%),
- muscle wasting (48%),
- and brainstem signs (45%).
Common MRI Findings
symmetric pontomesencephalic lesions (56%),
compatible with Tarsier-sign (19%),
M-sign (33%),
leptomeningeal basal enhancement and/or
perimedullary enhancement (31%).
Twenty-eight percent of the patients recovered completely after treatment, while the remaining had mild neurological deficits (mRS 1-2).
So treatment failed in 68% of those with brain Lyme disease!
Why Such a Terrible Outcome?
No treatment of cysts,
No treatment for Lyme persisters,
They ignored routine slime protected biofilm forms,
Ignored Bartonella which is more common than Lyme,
Ignored Babesia with a 1.4% death rate.
No appreciation that you should pretreat to blow some of these germs up so their advanced stealth is undermined and an antibody test is positive if using newer technology.
Large commercial labs use ancient technology only looking for 1-2 species.
Keywords: Brainstem; Encephalitis; Encephalomyelitis; Lyme neuroborreliosis; M-sign; Tarsier sign.
Bakalakou E, Etxeberria-Izal A, Onofrj V, El Sankari S, Guilmot A. Late Lyme neuroborreliosis encephalomyelitis with distinct MRI features—a case report and systematic literature review.
J Neurol. 2025 Oct 26;272(11):729.
doi: 10.1007/s00415-025-13475-5.
PMID: 41139349.