Last week the Invisible Education Initiative, funded by the Montecalvo Foundation, received accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) for its library of 28-plus continuing medical education courses. These free courses serve up the latest in research and clinical advice on vector-borne and environmental illness, delivered by some of the most knowledgeable experts in their respective fields. This CME library is the first to offer in-depth course series on topics such as persistent Lyme disease, Bartonellosis, antibiotics for Lyme disease, and congenital transmission of tick-borne diseases.

The ACCME accreditation process is rigorous and ongoing, and it confers a mark of quality to producers of CME courses. Decisions are determined after a one- to two-year review process by two committees—the Accreditation Review Committee (ARC) and the Decision Committee of the Board of Directors.

“Invisible's education team worked tirelessly for 24 months to accomplish all the benchmarks required for this prestigious accreditation,” said Dr. Nevena Zubcevik, Invisible’s chief medical officer. “It’s been an honor to collaborate with education team members Elizabeth Maloney, MD; Christine Green; MD; Charlotte Mao, MD, MPH; and Elizabeth Lewandrowski, PhD, MPH; all of whom have been leading the way in tick-borne disease clinical care for decades. Week after week, we meet to prioritize gaps in medical knowledge, locate experts to prepare course materials, then ensure that each course meets the highest evidence-based standards.”

We thank our trailblazing donors, Valerie and Frank Montecalvo, who invested in our team of tick-borne experts and dared to aim high. Together, we are accelerating treatment knowledge to the frontlines of clinical care and delivering prevention advice to both patients and health-care workers. These courses will save lives.

Read more about ACCME accreditation

The CDC’s Southeast Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Disease (SECVBD) has added our “One Health for Human Health Clinicians” course to its vector-borne disease training website. This ACCME-accredited course aims to help clinicians view their most difficult patient diagnostic challenges through the lens of a One Health problem-solving framework. One Health recognizes that the health of people, animals and the environment are interconnected. It is taught by Cheryl Stroud, DVM, PhD, the Executive Director of the One Health Commission. In this overview course, Stroud shares engaging case studies that illustrate the primary tenets of One Health.

Based at the University of Florida, the SECVBD’s mission is to grow the public health entomology workforce by training the next generation on control of diseases spread by ticks, mosquitoes, kissing bugs, and more.

Starting this year, SECVBD will increase its research and outreach activities into slowing the spread of tick-borne diseases in the southeastern United States. They will be working to better understand where ticks and tick-borne infections are appearing in the region and how to establish control measures. It will also conduct research into alpha-gal syndrome in humans, a tick-associated meat allergy that is on the rise in the Southeast.

This free, accredited Continuing Medical Education (CME) is part of the Invisible Education Initiative, funded by the Montecalvo Foundation.

Watch the course

The first case of human babesiosis, a supposedly rare, malaria-like protozoan cattle infection was documented on Nantucket, MA, in 1969. By 1976, there were 13 babesiosis cases on Nantucket, one on Martha’s Vineyard, and three on Shelter Island, NY. Then, on October 13, 1977, The Boston Globe wrote, “Despite the small number, this outbreak constitutes the world’s largest known cluster of babesiosis cases.”

Spread by tick bites and contaminated blood products, as babesiosis continues to spread outwards from Massachusetts and clinicians are still learning what symptoms to look for in patients who may have this serious and sometimes fatal disease.

In July of this year, a group of physicians at Einstein Medical Center Montgomery in East Norriton, PA, published two cases studies that add to the symptom list. The first patient, a 72-year-old male gardener, had nine days of cognitive impairment, slurred speech, and fevers. This neurologic impairment resulted in a motor vehicle accident. The second patient, a 71-year-old male, came to the hospital with fatigue, lightheadedness, ataxia, confusion, dyspnea on exertion, night sweats, fevers, and urinary frequency and urgency. A hospital workup found that he had significant hypotension, symptomatic anemia, and tachycardia.

The authors go on to say, “It is important to have a high suspicion of this disease when neurologic manifestations alongside hematologic manifestations are seen. Early diagnosis and treatment are detrimental to recovery; delayed diagnosis could be fatal.”

Jennifer Hess, Esq., a partner at Riemer Hess, a law firm specializing in disability insurance claims, recently wrote a helpful guest blog on LymeDisease.org that may increase your odds of success in filing for Lyme disease disability.

Her top ten tips:

1. Secure the support and cooperation of your doctor
2. Ask your doctor to supplement the claim forms with a letter
3. Undergo a functional capacity evaluation, neuropsychological evaluation, or cardiopulmonary exercise testing
4. Explain how your Lyme symptoms impact your ability to work
5. Keep a Lyme symptom diary or journal
6. Don’t forget to document any co-morbid conditions contributing to your disability
7. Gather and neatly organize your evidence with an index
8. Satisfy the deadlines set forth in your disability insurance policy
9. Receive consistent and frequent treatment while your disability claim is pending
10. Cooperate with the insurance company’s investigation within reason

Tick bites woman. Woman bites back, by launching LymeTV, a media foundation that aims to end the ignorance surrounding tick-borne diseases.

While Adina Bercowicz was applying to graduate school, she began experiencing a variety of mysterious symptoms, including crushing fatigue, joint aches, and frequent mind-blowing headaches. She thought it would go away in a few days, but it didn’t. And for the next two years, she kept visiting doctors, searching for relief from her forever illness. Her symptoms progressed into debilitating chronic pain and a significant cognitive decline, so bad that she couldn’t even recognize her own car.

Learn about how Adina turned her frustration with the medical community’s lack of knowledge about tick-borne diseases into an educational powerhouse.