Lyme disease: a case report of a 17-year-old male with fatal Lyme carditis

Abstract Lyme disease is a systemic infection commonly found in the northeastern, mid-Atlantic, and north–central regions of the United States. Of the many systemic manifestations of Lyme disease, cardiac involvement is uncommon and rarely causes mortality. We describe a case of a 17-year-old adoles...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cardiovascular pathology 2015-09, Vol.24 (5), p.317-321
Main Authors: Yoon, Esther C, Vail, Eric, Kleinman, George, Lento, Patrick A, Li, Simon, Wang, Guiqing, Limberger, Ronald, Fallon, John T
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Arrhythmia
Borrelia burgdorferi
Carditis
Fatal Outcome
Heart block
Humans
Lyme carditis
Lyme disease
Lyme Disease - complications
Male
Myocarditis
Myocarditis - parasitology
Myocarditis - pathology
Myocarditis - physiopathology
Pathology
Pediatric
Spirochetes
Ventricular tachycardia
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abstract Lyme disease is a systemic infection commonly found in the northeastern, mid-Atlantic, and north–central regions of the United States. Of the many systemic manifestations of Lyme disease, cardiac involvement is uncommon and rarely causes mortality. We describe a case of a 17-year-old adolescent who died unexpectedly after a 3-week viral-like syndrome. Postmortem examination was remarkable for diffuse pancarditis characterized by extensive infiltrates of lymphocytes and focal interstitial fibrosis. In the cardiac tissue, Borrelia burgdorferi was identified via special stains, immunohistochemistry, and polymerase chain reaction. The findings support B. burgdorferi as the causative agent for his fulminant carditis and that the patient suffered fatal Lyme carditis. Usually, Lyme carditis is associated with conduction disturbances and is a treatable condition. Nevertheless, few cases of mortality have been reported in the literature. Here, we report a rare example of fatal Lyme carditis in an unsuspected patient.
ISSN:1054-8807
1879-1336
DOI:10.1016/j.carpath.2015.03.003