🕗Understanding Lyme Disease: A Conversation with Dr. Michael Koren Ep 155

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Ever wonder why Lyme disease got its peculiar name? Or how a tick could transmit a disease that affects humans so severely? Prepare to have your curiosity satisfied on today's MedEvidence Monday Minute Radio Show. Unraveling the mysteries of Lyme disease as Dr. Koren uncovers the surprising history, intriguing transmission process, and cutting-edge research behind this often misunderstood ailment.

We will journey from Lyme disease's discovery in Old Lyme, Connecticut in 1977, to the latest advancements in vaccine research. Learn about the fascinating transmission process involving ticks and the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi. Lyme disease is more than just a trivia question; it's a public health issue that demands our attention. So join us as we dissect this subject with Dr. Koren, whose knack for breaking down complex medical jargon will leave you not only well-informed but deeply enlightened.

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Have a question for Dr. Koren? Email him at [e-mail]

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Music: Storyblocks - Corporate Inspired

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Episode Transcript

Narrator (00:00):
Welcome to the MedEvidence Monday Minute Radio
Show hosted by Kevin Gettings ofWSOS St Augustine Radio and
powered by ENCORE ResearchGroup.
Each Monday morning, Dr.
Michael KJoren calls in tobring you the latest medical
updates with insightfuldiscussions.
Medevidence is where we helpyou navigate the real truth
behind medical research, withboth a clinical and research

(00:20):
perspective.
So sit back, relax and getready to learn about the truth
behind the data in medicine andhealth care.
This is MedEvidence.

Kevin Geddings (00:30):
Dr.
Michael Koren joins me live onthe studio line, of course,
every Monday morning around thistime and of course he's a
medical doctor, cardiologist,research scientist.
I would imagine you areprobably a really good jeopardy
contestant type.
Right, you could be really goodat trivial type of questions or
trivia?

Dr. Michael Koren (00:48):
Yeah, it's true actually.
Yeah, when I was in college Iwas pretty good at it.
Now, of course, what I read inmy knowledge base has shipped
over the years to very esotericthings.
I'm not sure I'd be great onanything that's happened in the
last 20 years in culture, butother than that, it makes you
pretty good.

Kevin Geddings (01:06):
Yeah, we'll take medical research for 500, Alex
All right.

Dr. Michael Koren (01:12):
Well, even more specifically, it would be
Lyme disease for 500, Alex.

Kevin Geddings (01:15):
Yeah, yes, you know the ins and outs of Lyme
disease, right?

Dr. Michael Koren (01:19):
Yeah, as a matter of fact, we're doing a
study right now testing a Lymedisease vaccine, and Lyme
disease is interesting fromnumber standpoint.
It was actually discovered in1977.
And here's a good triviaquestion why do you call it Lyme
disease?

Kevin Geddings (01:35):
Yeah, really.

Dr. Michael Koren (01:36):
Why?
Yeah, well, it doesn't meanthat you're switching from using
lemons to limes in your bar,guy, I can assure you that.
But in fact it's called Lymedisease because it was
discovered in Old Lyme,Connecticut, and so people from
Connecticut know the answer tothat question, but everybody
else doesn't seem to know theanswer to it.

Kevin Geddings (01:55):
Right, and it's also spelled with a y and not an
.
I right?

Dr. Michael Koren (01:59):
That is correct.
Yeah, correct because when youhear about cases, and is it true
?

Kevin Geddings (02:04):
I mean, from a layman's perspective, we feel
like we're at risk of that if weget a tick on us, right, If we
have to pull a tick off our body.

Dr. Michael Koren (02:12):
Right.
Well, that would be true.
So it is a disease that'stransmitted by ticks.
In our area and on the eastcoast of the United States it's
transmitted by deer ticks calledixodes scapularis.
So it's another trivia question.
So if you're doing trivia overthe holiday weekend and you get
a Lyme disease question,remember ixodes scapularis, and

(02:36):
that's the deer tick name.
And the actual bacteria thatcause disease is called Borrelia
Burgdorferi.
And that is also of interestbecause you don't actually get
that infection from theimmediate bite of the tick.
You actually get it when thetick regurgitates the blood that

(02:57):
it sucks from you.

Kevin Geddings (02:58):
Oh my gosh.

Dr. Michael Koren (02:59):
So yeah, so if you get a tick on you, you
don't have to freak out, becauseit usually takes about 24 hours
or more for the tick to consumesome of your bodily products
and then regurgitate them backinto you with this bacteria
called Borrelia Burgdorferi.

Kevin Geddings (03:18):
Now, that is good trivia right there, Dr.
Koren.
That is really really goodstuff.

Dr. Michael Koren (03:23):
It is, it is, and you won't remember any of
that, of course, but what youshould remember is that we have
a way of treating it now, andthat's been around, which is
antibiotics in the short term.
But now, more importantly, wehave a way of preventing it with
our Lyme disease vaccine, andwe're enrolling in that study as
we speak.

Kevin Geddings (03:41):
Wow, it's interesting too.
If you had asked me is a tickas small a creature, is it is
capable of regurgitation?
I would have bet no.
Right?

Dr. Michael Koren (03:51):
You know you don't think about it.
It's kind of gross, which iscertainly a reason why you want
to prevent that disease, and wehave the means to do that.

Kevin Geddings (03:59):
Right, and Dr.
Michael Koren is with us and ofcourse he heads up the show
with ENCORE Research Group, andthey are engaged in leading edge
medical research, with officesright here in St.
John's County and throughoutMetro Jacksonville and, of
course, very involved in gettinginformation out to our
community about all aspects ofhealth information.
You can do that and learn moreabout his work in that space by

(04:21):
checking out the websiteMedEvidence.
com.
MedEvidence.
com and Dr.
Koren when they go there andthey may have a little downtime,
you know, while they're sittingaround waiting for the turkey
to be served what will they findon that website?

Dr. Michael Koren (04:33):
Well, MedEvidence is our platform to
share the truth behind the dataand, as we like to remind people
, if you just Google something,typically you'll get information
that is coming from somebodywho's trying to sell you
something, and MedEvidence doesnot do that.
Medevidence is typically aseries of podcasts and other
educational material that helppeople really understand the

(04:55):
issue.
We look at it from multiplesides.
We typically do programs wheredifferent physicians are talking
about whatever the medical areais.
S o that you really get aperspective about that medical
area from the way doctors thinkabout things and talk about
things and analyze things.
So we think it's a unique webproperty and hopefully everybody
will check it out.

Kevin Geddings (05:14):
And when it comes back to medical research,
give us an example of a medicaltrial that you all are
recruiting for right now.
That could be really beneficialfor our listeners.

Dr. Michael Koren (05:24):
Oh, there are quite a few.
I mentioned Lyme disease andwe're particularly excited about
that.
Particularly in this seasonpeople may be traveling up north
to look at leaves or to gohunting things of that nature
where they would be exposed toticks, and we have a program
right now for Lyme disease foranybody who might be interested.
So that's ongoing.
We have a few more days left inour combination flu COVID

(05:48):
vaccine studies.
That's in rolling both in StAugustine and in Jacksonville.
This is a very, very popularprogram.
We have probably close to 200people who have already taken
advantage of this and it's anopportunity to get both shots at
the same time with no placeboin this particular trial.
So this is an active controltrial where everybody gets
treated.

(06:08):
So if you have not had your fluor COVID vaccine this year,
it's a great opportunity.
But we're also doing a lot ofinteresting things on the
cardiac monitoring side.
So we have studies that will beup and coming for congestive
heart failure and just medicaldevices that monitor how you're
doing.
So we have one in particularthat tracks your voice day to

(06:30):
day on your cell phone and willtell us whether or not you're at
risk for having a congestiveheart failure, exacerbation or
worsening of your condition.
And we also have other medicalmonitoring devices that are good
for atrial fibrillation, aregood to look at what's happening
with your blood pressure andpredict whether or not you're
going to get into trouble withyour cardiac diagnosis.
Really, virtually in everytherapeutic area you can imagine

(06:53):
, there's something prettyexciting going on.

Kevin Geddings (06:55):
Finally something that your cell phone
can help you with that's betterthan TikTok, right?

Dr. Michael Koren (07:00):
Yeah, well, that's for sure.
There's been so manydiscussions lately about the
pluses and minuses of socialmedia, and I have to admit that
I'm getting more and moreinclined to think about the
minuses these days.
Yeah, but that's another story, yeah.
Well, Dr.
Michael Koren, we appreciate it.
As always, always goodinformation.
Now we know more about Lymedisease than we did five minutes

(07:22):
ago, right.
Well, hopefully you're well armed for
when that category comes up.

Kevin Geddings (07:29):
Dr.
Koren, we do hope that you havea wonderful Thanksgiving and we
will talk with you after theholiday, okay?

Dr. Michael Koren (07:35):
Sounds great.
Look forward.
Have a great holiday, Kevin.
Have a great week.

Narrator (07:38):
Thanks for joining the MedEvidence podcast.
To learn more, head over toMedEvidence.
com or subscribe to our podcaston your favorite podcast
platform.