As we roll into the new year, Invisible International’s team of passionate faculty, innovators, and community leaders are diligently working to develop more evidence-based medical education for the human and animal diseases on the rise in this era of climate change. (Read about our 2022 accomplishments here.)

Some of our top priorities include:
1. Expanding our medical education offerings to address:

—Tick co-infections such as babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, and anaplasmosis

—Chronic Lyme patient rehabilitation

—Companion animal health

—Diagnostic differentials for Lyme, mold exposure, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue (ME/CFS)

2. Integrating our medical education into universities
3. Building partnerships abroad, because vector-borne disease is a global problem

4. Fostering information-sharing between human and animal clinicians through our ongoing Innovation Hackathon initiatives

5. Continuing our “Storytelling for Change” initiatives to expand awareness and compassion, especially in underserved populations that suffer from these invisible illnesses.

Your generous donations will help us carry on this important work, and together, we can make sure that no patient is left behind.

Nev Zubcevik, DO
Chief Medical Officer
Invisible International 

In Invisible’s latest medical education course, Monica Embers, PhD, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the Tulane National Primate Research Center, and a leading expert in B. burgdorferi (Lyme) infections in non-human primates, discusses problems with the current two-tiered Lyme testing protocol and describes a promising new diagnostic approach that her lab is working on.
 
Most Lyme experts agree that the 30-year-old antibody testing approach that we use needs a serious overhaul. The tests don’t work well in the first few weeks after a tick bite because the immune system hasn’t yet produced measurable antibodies. And people who have the worst infections or compromised immune system may have antibody levels too low to measure. These “false negatives” can lead to truly sick people being denied treatment and going on to become chronically ill.
 
After a brief overview on the clinical stages of Lyme disease and the two-tiered testing protocol, Dr. Embers goes deep on how immune system responses change during an infection and after treatment. Her strong recommendation: Start over with Lyme testing criteria using next-generation molecular detection equipment to define antibody profiles for all stages of Lyme disease, guided by a more statistically valid study design—because every positive Lyme case missed could result in a life lost to chronic disease.

The Invisible Education Initiative, funded by the Montecalvo Foundation, provides free, accredited Continuing Medical Education (CME) courses that focus on vector-borne and environmental illness within a One Health framework. These courses are available to clinicians and the public. To donate to this initiative and to learn about Invisible International, please go here http://invisible.international/give.

At the end of the year, Invisible International took a moment to reflect on and celebrate our top five achievements of the last year. Invisible was founded only three years ago by a team of passionate and experienced physicians and scientists who recognized the need for a unique approach to solving the challenges of tick-borne illness. This dynamic team remains united around a common mission: To solve the persistent problem of vector- and tick-borne diseases with collaborative, creative educational approaches. In 2022, Invisible officially adopted the One Health framework, which positions its mission within the nexus of climate, human, and animal health. With this change, Invisible has many more collaborators and tools to engage new partners on the challenges of tick-borne disease. Invisible has a lot more in store for 2023, but let’s take a moment to celebrate the wins of 2022!

This spring, the third European “Crypto-Infections Conference” will focus on Lyme disease, hidden infections, and bacterial persistence. The conference will be held in Dublin, Ireland, in both in-person and online on May 19 and 20.

Abstracts should contain original material from recent work that is not yet in publication. The conference encourages research on crypto-infections, as well as best-practice examples and lessons learned. The theme of this year’s conference is persistence of Infections, under the categories of human studies, animal studies, epidemiology, and diagnostics/therapeutics. Send abstracts in pdf format to gavramovic@mater.ie  by the May 2, 2023.

The registration for the conference will be waived for student abstracts, but all costs related to travel should be covered by individuals for in-person attendance.

This conference is being organized by Jack Lambert, MD, PhD, a Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Mater and Rotunda hospitals, and University College of Dublin School of Medicine in Dublin, Ireland. He is also the founder of the Lyme Resource Centre in Scotland and a member of Invisible's Scientific Advisory Board.

For submission and registration details, go here: https://www.lymeresourcecentre.com/EUCIC2023