Lyme disease and Whipple's disease: a comprehensive review for the rheumatologist.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review without systematic search methodology
PubMed 38438928 · doi:10.1186/s42358-024-00359-x
What was done
This paper is a narrative review summarizing the epidemiological, pathophysiological, clinical, and therapeutic aspects of Lyme disease and Whipple's disease, with a focus on their rheumatologic manifestations and differential diagnosis with autoimmune arthropathies.
What was found
The abstract reports no quantitative data or numerical outcomes. It qualitatively describes Lyme arthritis as a late finding typically presenting six months after erythema migrans as mono- or oligoarthritis of large joints with a chronic or remitting course that may persist after antibiotics. Whipple's disease presents as migratory, intermittent seronegative poly- or oligoarthritis of large joints that can precede gastrointestinal symptoms by years. Both conditions can involve cardiac and neurological systems and are susceptible to misdiagnosis as rheumatoid arthritis or spondyloarthritis.
Why it matters
It provides clinicians with a comparative overview to help distinguish rare infectious causes of chronic arthritis from common autoimmune rheumatic diseases.
Limits
The paper is a non-systematic narrative review providing no primary patient data, sample sizes, search strategy details, or quantitative effect estimates in the abstract.
Cited by
- context The clinical hallmark of Lyme disease is migratory pain affecting joints, muscles, and nerves.