7 years of blood-based testing for tick-borne infections other than Lyme disease

Elizabeth Lee-Lewandrowski, PhD, MPH
Massachusetts General Hospital
Harvard Medical School

This CME is intended to help clinicians decide when to test for tick-borne infections, based on symptoms, geographic location, timing, and organism infection rates. Content for this free course was compiled by a team of pathologists, clinicians, and informaticists who analyzed Quest Laboratories’ U.S. patient data from 2010 to 2016, along with CDC tick-borne disease case reports. This concise, data-driven overview will help clinicians quickly decide which tests to order after a tick-bite, potentially speeding up treatment decisions and saving lives.

Application for CME credit has been filed with the American Academy of Family Physicians. Determination of credit is pending.

Learning objectives:

1. Learners will be able to describe the most common non-Lyme tick-borne illnesses
2. Learners will be able to describe the relative frequency of non-Lyme tick-borne illnesses reported to the CDC  
3. Learners will be able to understand the potential role of reference laboratory data to monitor tick-borne diseases
4. Learners will have increased awareness of the most appropriate laboratory tests for non-Lyme tick-borne illnesses.

Evidence-based bibliography for further study

• https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/diseases

• Elizabeth Lee-Lewandrowski, PhD, MPH, Zhen Chen, MS, John Branda, MD, Jason Baron, MD, Harvey W Kaufman, MD, Laboratory Blood-Based Testing for Non-Lyme Disease Tick-Borne Infections at a National Reference Laboratory: A Seven-Year Experience, American Journal of Clinical Pathology, Volume 153, Issue 1, January 2020, Pages 139–145, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcp/aqz139.