BORRELIA: story timeline 2021, published 2022)

As a Native American family scratches rashes in an Albuquerque hospital while the pregnant daughter struggles with a potentially fatal reaction to the antibiotic, veterinarian Maya Maguire of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scrambles to determine the cause. She’s had no time to recover from a mysterious Arizona anthrax outbreak and its fallout on those closest to her. 

Her boss at the New Mexico health department guesses that the rashes are from infection with Borrelia, a squiggly spirochete bacteria transmitted by bloodsucking lice and ticks. An agriculture veterinarian with his own burdens from the anthrax investigation joins Maya to investigate Borrelia in eastern New Mexico dogs. Both veterinarians cope with life and work tragedies using alcohol or medication.

Maya is uncomfortable with the request to mentor a new, arrogant CDC trainee assigned to Arizona. As a shy statistics nerd and Chinese-American adoptee, she fears she’s too young and damaged with PTSD from a childhood accident to juggle multiple Borrelia cases and the trainee’s oversight at his month-long orientation in Atlanta. An invitation to investigate immigrant-associated Borrelia in Europe during a summer heatwave is a chance to escape the overwhelming challenges, and one more opportunity to grow. 

Borrelia is published wide and is available through multiple outlets, including Amazon, Kobo, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and others. For one link to all these options, go to:  Borrelia: A Microbial Mystery 

The Amazon kindle link has a lengthy free 'look inside' through part of Chapter 4 (but other distributors may offer it too): Borrelia: A Microbial Mystery 

Libraries and bookstores may request publisher information and ISBN numbers to place an order: Maya Maguire Media, Burlington Vermont; Publication date: June, 2022

978-1-955481-06-9 Ebook

978-1-955481-05-2 Paperback

978-1-955481-07-6 Large Print

978-1-955481-08-3 Hardcover

ABOUT BORRELIA (Updated 2/13/25)

Lyme disease is thriving thanks to climate change | Popular Science (popsci.com)

 Lyme disease is caused by bacteria - Mayo Clinic News Network 

Eurosurveillance | Louse-borne relapsing fever (Borrelia recurrentis) diagnosed in 15 refugees from northeast Africa: epidemiology and preventive control measures, Bavaria, Germany, July to October 2015

Louse-borne relapsing fever (Borrelia recurrentis infection) | Epidemiology & Infection | Cambridge Core

 Lizards may be protecting people from Lyme disease in the southeastern United States | Science | AAAS (sciencemag.org)