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May 2025
50m 20s

Your Brain On... Lyme Disease

Drs. Ayesha and Dean Sherzai
About this episode

 A tiny bite from a tiny tick can trigger a complex disease which speaks to some huge problems with our healthcare system.

In this episode, we explain the biology, controversy, and cultural blind spots around Lyme disease, a condition that reflects much more than just a bacterial infection. It's also a mirror for our most urgent public health issues: inequality, misinformation, climate change, and the growing mistrust of science.

We speak with two world-class experts:

• Dr. John Aucott: Director of the Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Clinical Research Center and leading voice on post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS)

• Dr. Richard Marconi: Professor of microbiology and immunology at Virginia Commonwealth University, and a pioneering scientist behind next-generation Lyme vaccines

Together, we explore:

• Why Lyme disease symptoms can linger long after treatment

• What makes Lyme so neurologically disruptive (and so hard to diagnose)

• How climate change, suburban development, and racial disparities intersect with the rise of tick-borne illness

• The dangers of alternative medicine grifters preying on desperate patients

• The truth about the original Lyme vaccine, and what's coming next...

We also share practical prevention tips and discuss how Lyme disease is shaping the future of infectious disease research, diagnostics, and brain health.

This is... Your Brain On Lyme Disease.

'Your Brain On' is hosted by neurologists, scientists, and public health advocates Ayesha and Dean Sherzai.

SUPPORTED BY: NEURO World. Help your brain thrive, now and into the future: https://neuro.world/ 

'Your Brain On... Lyme Disease' • SEASON 5 • EPISODE 4

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