A Clinical Guide to Diagnosing and Treating Lyme Disease and Other Tick-Borne Illnesses

Term of Credit

Release date: 2/1/2020

Expiration date:  2/1/2021

Estimated time to complete: 75 minutes

Activity Overview

Establishing a Lyme disease diagnosis remains a considerable challenge, as many symptoms are nonspecific and there are currently no definitive diagnostic tests available. This represents a significant clinical problem, as the number of Lyme disease cases in the U.S. is steadily increasing. This activity presents and discusses recent advances in the management of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses.

Copyright Statement

© 2020. This CME-certified program is held as copyrighted by the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine, the State of Delaware, Global Lyme Alliance, and RedMedEd. Through this notice, the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine, the State of Delaware, Global Lyme Alliance, and RedMedEd grant permission of its use for educational purposes only. These materials may not be used, in whole or in part, for any commercial purposes without prior permission in writing from the copyright owners.

Providership

Jointly provided by Postgraduate Institute for Medicine and RedMedEd, in collaboration with the State of Delaware and Global Lyme Alliance.

Statement of Support

This activity is not supported by educational grants.

Goal

This activity has been designed to improve participants' ability to recognize, diagnose, and treat Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:

  • Define Lyme disease
  • Explain the epidemiology of Lyme disease
  • Describe the various stages of Lyme disease
  • Recognize the system-specific symptoms of Lyme disease
  • Discuss the diagnostic challenges associated with tick-borne illnesses
  • List the common co-infections in patients presenting with Lyme disease
  • Explain the routine recommendations for testing and treatment of Lyme disease, and co-infections, based on the current guidelines

Target Audience

This activity is intended to meet the educational needs of primary care providers—physicians, registered nurses, nurse practitioners (NPs), and physician assistants (PAs)—involved in the care and treatment of patients who are at risk for tick-borne diseases.

Faculty

Charles Y. Chiu, MD, PhD
Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Medicine/Infectious Diseases
Associate Director, University of California San Francisco Microbiology Laboratory
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, California



Elena Frid, MD, ABPN, ABCN
Board Certified Neurologist and Clinical Neurophysiologist
New York, New York




 

Joint Accreditation Statement

In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine and RedMedEd. Postgraduate Institute for Medicine is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Accreditation Statements

Physician Continuing Medical Education
The Postgraduate Institute for Medicine designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Continuing Nursing Education
The maximum number of hours awarded for this continuing nursing education activity is 1.1 contact hours. Designated for 0.2 contact hours of pharmacotherapy credit for advanced practice registered nurses.

Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest

Postgraduate Institute for Medicine (PIM) requires instructors, planners, managers, and other individuals who are in a position to control the content of this activity to disclose any real or apparent conflict of interest (COI) they may have as related to the content of this activity. All identified COI are thoroughly vetted and resolved according to PIM policy. PIM is committed to providing its learners with high-quality activities and related materials that promote improvements or quality in health care and not a specific proprietary business interest of a commercial interest. Disclosures are as follows:

Charles Y. Chiu, MD, PhD, has disclosed the following relevant financial relationships:
Consultancy: Bay Area Lyme Foundation
Contracted Research: Abbott Laboratories, Inc.

Elena Frid, MD, ABPN, ABCN, has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

Planners and Managers
Postgraduate Institute for Medicine
The PIM planners and managers have nothing to disclose.

Global Lyme Alliance
Sara Tyghter, Director, Education and Outreach, has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

State of Delaware
Rebecca L. Benson, DNP, CS-P, RN, has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Stephen Eppes, MD, has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Krista Griffin, DC, has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Judy Setting has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

RedMedEd
Denise C. LaTemple, PhD, Director of Scientific Services, has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Yvette Murley, PhD, Medical Director, has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Kristen Petro Slade, Operations Director, has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Jonathan S. Simmons, ELS, Senior Managing Editor, has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Karen Smith, Creative Director, has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Karen Tenaglia, Project Manager, has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

Disclaimer

Participants have an implied responsibility to use the newly acquired information to enhance patient outcomes and their own professional development. The information presented in this activity is not meant to serve as a guideline for patient management. Any procedures, medications, or other courses of diagnosis or treatment discussed or suggested in this activity should not be used by clinicians without evaluation of their patient's conditions and possible contraindications and/or dangers in use, review of any applicable manufacturer's product information, and comparison with recommendations of other authorities.

Off-Label and Investigational Usage Statement

This educational activity may contain discussion of published and/or investigational uses of agents that are not indicated by the FDA. The planners of this activity do not recommend the use of any agent outside of the labeled indications. The opinions expressed in the educational activity are those of the faculty and do not necessarily represent the views of the planners. Please refer to the official prescribing information for each product for discussion of approved indications, contraindications, and warnings.

Participation and Obtaining CME/CE Credit

There are no fees for participating and receiving CME/CE credit for this activity. During the period February 1, 2020 through February 1, 2021, participants must read the learning objectives and faculty disclosures and study the educational activity.

If you wish to receive acknowledgment for completing this activity, please complete the post-test and evaluation. When you have successfully completed the post-test with a score of 75% or better and the activity evaluation, your certificate will be made available immediately.

Media

Internet

Technical Requirements

  • PC
    • OS: Microsoft Windows 7 or later.
    • Web Browser: Google Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer 9 or later.
    • Free Adobe Acrobat Reader for advance PDF functionality. https://get.adobe.com/reader/
  • Mac
    • OS: Mac OS 10.10 or later.
    • Web Browser: Google Chrome, Safari.
    • Free Adobe Acrobat Reader for advance PDF functionality. https://get.adobe.com/reader/

Privacy

This website is managed by RedMedEd, and RedMedEd’s printed privacy policy applies to this site. CE credit for this activity is provided by the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine (PIM). If you register for CE credit for this educational activity, RedMedEd will forward relevant personally identifiable information to PIM so that records can be maintained concerning any credits issued to you. Aggregated data concerning registrations, posttests, and evaluations may be shared, but RedMedEd will not knowingly share any personally identifiable information. The information you provide on this site may be used to contact you about your CE credit or other relevant information through PIM, RedMedEd, or Global Lyme Alliance. For more information or to opt out, contact education@redmeded.com.

For more information about the privacy policy of RedMedEd, please visit https://www.redmeded.com/privacy-policy.html.

For questions, contact about the accreditation of this activity, please contact Postgraduate Institute for Medicine at information@pimed.com or (303) 799-1930.