In cases where Lyme disease was not diagnosed early enough and a pacemaker needed to be implanted in order for a patient's heart to maintain normal atrioventricular (AV) node conduction in the face of Lyme carditis, this paper by Queen's University researchers concludes that the pacemaker can be safely removed following antibiotic treatment so long as the AV node has returned to normal function. Most of the time conduction issues resolve within ten days of treatment although temporary disruptions can last as long as 42 days.

This paper, a co-operative effort between molecular biologists from several institutions including the University of Calgary, details ongoing efforts to determine whether surface lipoprotein VIsE is adhesin-X, an unknown molecular component that likely works with spirochetal adhesin BBK32 and multifunctional surface protein OspC to assist Lyme bacteria in successfully disseminating throughout the body early in the infectious process by slowing it down upon infiltration of the fast-flowing blood steam and helping it to adhere to blood vessel walls, something that is critical for the bacteria

Basically, the authors of this paper advocate for the increased role of Canada's two primary blood services agencies, Hema-Quebec and Canada Blood Services, in public health surveillance. Because of the way these arms-length agencies operate, they can potentially play a critical role in the monitoring of an increasing number of human pathogens through screening blood donations and sharing that data with researchers.

These researchers analyzed data relating to human Lyme disease cases and passive tick surveillance from four eastern Ontario health units (encompassing the communities of Brockville, Carleton Place, Cornwall, Gananoque, Kingston, Ottawa, Perth and surrounding rural areas) between 2010 and 2017. They found that, with the exception of Ottawa, most Lyme disease infections were acquired in the immediate vicinity of patients' homes.