Borrelia burgdorferi News and Research

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Study observes increase in Lyme disease-causing ticks across California’s woodlands and beaches

US-based researchers – at Colorado State University and the Northern Arizona University – have discovered that disease-causing ticks are finding their way onto beachfront properties, including infestations in woodlands and beaches around North California.

28 Apr 2021

New technique could enable real-time distribution monitoring of ticks that carry Lyme disease

The findings of a recent analysis conducted by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope, suggest that ecosystems suitable for harboring ticks that carry debilitating Lyme disease could be more widespread than previously thought in California, Oregon and Washington.

17 Mar 2021

Five herbal medicines show potent activity against Babesia duncani in the lab

Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the U.S., today announced the publication of new data finding that five herbal medicines had potent activity compared to commonly-used antibiotics in test tubes against Babesia duncani, a malaria-like parasite found on the West Coast of the U.S. that causes the disease babesiosis.

9 Mar 2021

Study identifies bird species with the potential to spread Lyme disease

Birds play an underrecognized role in spreading tickborne disease due to their capacity for long-distance travel and tendency to split their time in different parts of the world - patterns that are shifting due to climate change.

27 Jan 2021

UMass Amherst epidemiologist receives NIH grant to develop new tick surveillance method

A University of Massachusetts Amherst infectious disease epidemiologist has received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a new surveillance method to better identify specific locations with the highest risk for tick-borne disease transmission.

25 Sep 2020

SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission possible in North American deer mice

The current COVID-19 pandemic began as a zoonosis in China, at the end of 2019, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a novel betacoronavirus with significant similarity to an earlier virus of the same family.

11 Aug 2020

$5 million gift aims to propel Lyme disease research and education

To the Fairbairns, the symptoms--debilitating fatigue, joint pain, cognitive problems--were as worrisome as they were mystifying. All four members of the family had them.

6 Jul 2020

Discovery provides a potential target for infectious diseases immunotherapy

NIH investigators and colleagues have discovered that when the immune system first responds to infectious agents such as viruses or bacteria, a natural brake on the response prevents overactivation.

23 Jun 2020

Virginia Tech researcher wins $661,216 grant to study Lyme arthritis

With a $661,216 grant from the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation, Brandon Jutras, an assistant professor of biochemistry in the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, will study Lyme arthritis, including the cellular component that contributes to it.

22 May 2020

WSU researchers crack the Lyme disease code

The next time a tick feeds on you, Washington State University researchers hope to make sure persistent arthritis caused by Lyme disease doesn't linger for a lifetime.

30 Apr 2020

New paper-based test for early Lyme diagnosis

A new paper in the journal ACS Nano reports the development of an incredibly cheap and highly sensitive test to diagnose Lyme disease in its earliest stages, when it can be most easily, effectively and inexpensively treated.

18 Dec 2019

Paper-based blood test can quickly and sensitively diagnose early-stage Lyme disease

After a day hiking in the forest, the last thing a person wants to discover is a tick burrowing into their skin. Days after plucking off the bloodsucking insect, the hiker might develop a rash resembling a bull's-eye, a tell-tale sign of Lyme disease.

18 Dec 2019

Lyme vaccine on the horizon, says new study

Lyme disease is a dreaded disease caused by the bite of an infected tick. The only way to prevent it is by not getting bitten by the tick. However, this is not a practical recommendation, since even today about 300,000 thousand people are diagnosed with this infection, in the US alone, and over 100,000 in Europe, each year.

17 Oct 2019

New paper defines strategy for developing effective vaccines for Lyme disease

There is no effective vaccine currently available to prevent Lyme disease in humans.

17 Oct 2019

New rapid assay for Lyme disease could lead to a point-of-care diagnostic test

A study published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology describes a new rapid assay for Lyme disease that could lead to a practical test for use by healthcare providers.

16 Oct 2019

New microfluidic test can detect Lyme disease within 15 minutes

Some 300,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with Lyme disease every year. Caused by Borrelia burgdorferi and transmitted by the bite of infected Ixodes ticks, the disease if left untreated can cause serious neurologic, cardiac, and/or rheumatologic complications.

11 Oct 2019