HM18: Tick-borne illnesses

Key takeaways for HM

• Lyme disease can be seen in inpatient settings with cardiac, neurologic, and musculoskeletal manifestations.
• Several emerging tick-borne infections (tularemia, STARI [southern tick-associated rash illness]), relapsing fever (B. hermsii), B. miyamotoi, and B. mayonii should also be on clinicians’ radar.
• Ticks can also spread viruses that can have particularly deadly consequences such as Powassan, Heartland, and Bourbon.
• Climate change is good for ticks, but bad for humans.

Dr. Kim is assistant professor of medicine in the division of hospital medicine at Emory University, Atlanta.