OT? - Urgent Lyme Disease Question about child

[Guest Mary from OH]

PLEASE HELP!!

One of my Japanese students (age 5) has now had 5 episodes of what they are calling a "viral" arthritis episode. (toxic synovitis) On all three occasions, it has affected her hip joint. (it has varied on the side - right, then left, now right again). The pain is SEVERE and she is unable to walk. It comes on suddenly and progresses rapidly. The first instance happened when she was in Japan. They handled the situation differently than here in Ohio and had her on complete bedrest. Our Children's Hospital found fluid on her joint and drew off the fluid with a syringe. Immediately, the pain was relieved and she was able to walk again. They restricted her activities for one week. She had no returning pain after that. Until now. This is her third time. I am wondering about the possibility of Lyme disease? (also obviously Juvenile Onset Rhemetoid Arthritis)

Any ideas?

Thanks!

She's at the hospital now.

__________________________________________________________________

OK. She just got home from the hospital with the SAME diagnosis agian!! Grrrr. I STILL don't buy it!! The stranger thing is that another girl from our dance school has come down with the same thing!!! Is this just a coincidence?? HELP! I'm really worried about her.

I know that Lyme disease can be so hard to detect and act in so many different ways... is it a possiblity? Any opinions forom anyone??

Thank you!

[Laura]

Hi Mary! Do you know if they did a test on the fluid they aspirated to rule out different types of arthritis or bacterial infection? That would be really important to do as it is really strange to see this recurr three times. Most commonly in little kids, toxic synovitis is caused by a viral infection, usually respiratory but sometimes can be chicken pox or other viruses. Also, synovitis is more common in little boys than girls. If there is recurrance such as you are seeing, it might point more towards other causes, like arthritis, lupus, lyme and a few other diseases. I hope they are investigating this further, especially hope they are testing the synovial fluid! There is a possibility that Lyme could be a factor, but the first thing they usually rule out is different forms of arthritis. Oh, as for the treatment, some places still use complete bedrest and ibuprophen, some places do fluid aspiration and reduced activity. I hope this gets looked into further! Laura

[Jenn202]

Mary - You can contact Dr Jones. He is an excellent pediatric Lyme Dr in New Haven CT.....

203-772- 1123

I am pretty certain that he or his staff will be able to point you in the right diresting as far as testig is concerned.

Email me anytime if you have questions.

[Guest Mary from OH]

Thank you Jenn and Laura.

They did aspirate the fluid and test it. First, it came back as a SERIOUS FUNGAL INFECTION!! They had her parents rush her back to the hospital immediately. They did another ultrasound. They didn't find any other fluid. They started another culture. Nothing grew. They decided the 1st one was "contaminated". I'm not sure WHAT"S going on!!! There's another girl at our dance school dx with toxic synovitis as well and a third with beginning symtoms....

She got discharged today (they had started IV clindomyacin) and will see a rheumatologist within a week. I still think they haven't gotten to the bottom of things yet!! Thanks for some input and keep the info flowing!!