Lyme Disease News and Research

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Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected blacklegged ticks. Typical symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, and a characteristic skin rash called erythema migrans. If left untreated, infection can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system. Lyme disease is diagnosed based on symptoms, physical findings (e.g., rash), and the possibility of exposure to infected ticks; laboratory testing is helpful in the later stages of disease. Most cases of Lyme disease can be treated successfully with a few weeks of antibiotics. Steps to prevent Lyme disease include using insect repellent, removing ticks promptly, landscaping, and integrated pest management. The ticks that transmit Lyme disease can occasionally transmit other tick-borne diseases as well.

Consultation process launched to support development of Federal Framework on Lyme Disease

Today, the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada Dr. Gregory Taylor launched a consultation process to support the development of a Federal Framework on Lyme Disease.

2 Jun 2015

Pennsylvania physicians urge residents to take precautions against bug bites, bee stings

For many people, bug bites and bee stings aren't a big deal beyond a small irritation. But for some, it could mean the start of a painful - possibly long-term or even deadly - experience.

1 Jun 2015

New Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Clinical Research Center launched

Fundamental research into the causes and cures of post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome now has its first home base at a major U.S. medical research center with the launch of the Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Clinical Research Center. Inaugurated on May 12, 2015, with a major gift from the Lyme Disease Research Foundation, the center plans an ambitious research program targeting this increasingly common disease, which costs the U.S. economy up to $1.3 billion per year in treatment costs alone.

14 May 2015

Southern Indiana to be oasis free from Lyme disease, finds Indiana University researcher

Over nearly 15 years spent studying ticks, Indiana University's Keith Clay has found southern Indiana to be an oasis free from Lyme disease, the condition most associated with these arachnids that are the second most common parasitic disease vector on Earth.

11 May 2015

New UM SOM study uncovers never-before-seen illness transmitted by ticks

Tick-borne diseases are a major public health problem around the world. Ticks carry and transmit a variety of microbes that cause disease. These illnesses, which include Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and Tularemia, can cause a variety of symptoms, often serious and sometimes deadly.

23 Apr 2015

Inflammation plays causal role in neurologic changes associated with Lyme disease

About 15% of patients with Lyme disease develop peripheral and central nervous system involvement, often accompanied by debilitating and painful symptoms. New research indicates that inflammation plays a causal role in the array of neurologic changes associated with Lyme disease, according to a study published in The American Journal of Pathology.

17 Apr 2015

Antech Diagnostics agrees to acquire assets of AVRL for $21 million from Abaxis

Abaxis, Inc., a medical products company manufacturing point-of-care blood analysis systems, and VCA Inc., a leading animal healthcare company in the United States and Canada, today jointly announced Antech Diagnostics, Inc., VCA's laboratory division, has agreed to acquire the assets of AVRL (Abaxis Veterinary Reference Laboratory) from Abaxis for $21 million in cash.

19 Mar 2015

Swiss teenager with classic sudden symptoms of stroke diagnosed with Lyme disease

A Swiss teenager, recently returned home from a discotheque, came to the emergency department with classic sudden symptoms of stroke, only to be diagnosed with Lyme disease.

3 Mar 2015

Study: Lyme disease costs the U.S. health care system up to $1.3 billion a year

Lyme disease, transmitted by a bite from a tick infected by the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria, had long been considered easy to treat, usually requiring a single doctor's visit and a few weeks of antibiotics for most people.

6 Feb 2015

Organovo, Yale collaborate to develop bioprinted tissues for surgical transplantation research

Organovo Holdings, Inc., a three-dimensional biology company focused on delivering breakthrough 3D bioprinting technology, and Yale School of Medicine, Department of Surgery have formed a collaboration to develop bioprinted tissues for surgical transplantation research, made possible by a generous gift from the Methuselah Foundation.

3 Dec 2014

Abaxis completes acquisition of QCR & Trio Diagnostics

Abaxis, Inc., a medical products company manufacturing point-of-care instruments and consumables for the medical, research, and veterinary markets worldwide and providing reference lab services to the veterinary and research markets in the United States, announced today the completion of a stock purchase agreement to acquire 100% of QCR & Trio Diagnostics Limited, a United Kingdom based distribution organization.

21 Nov 2014

Researchers develop new test to identify drugs that could work against Lyme disease

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have developed a test they say will allow them to test thousands of FDA-approved drugs to see if they will work against the bacteria that causes tick-borne Lyme disease.

4 Nov 2014

IU Bloomington biologists to receive funding from NSF’s Dimensions of Biodiversity Program

Indiana University Bloomington biologists who specialize in the ecology and evolution of microbes have been named one of 12 teams in the nation to receive funding from the National Science Foundation's Dimensions of Biodiversity Program.

17 Oct 2014

Mice, shrews are most effective at transferring Lyme disease and anaplasmosis

In the U.S., some 300,000 people are diagnosed with Lyme disease annually. Thousands also suffer from babesiosis and anaplasmosis, tick-borne ailments that can occur alone or as co-infections with Lyme disease.

22 Sep 2014

NSF, NIH, USDA receive more than $12 million in new EEID grants

Ebola, MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), malaria, antibiotic-resistant infections: Is our interaction with the environment somehow responsible for their increased incidence?

11 Sep 2014

Leading experts propose new treatment guidelines for chronic Lyme disease

Current treatments for Lyme disease, particularly chronic forms of the disease, are inadequate, according to a new treatment guideline written by a group of leading experts.

4 Sep 2014

Rice University researchers confirm potent synthesis of natural tetracycline

A fortuitous collaboration at Rice University has led to the total synthesis of a recently discovered natural antibiotic.

29 Aug 2014

Microbiologist receives contract from U.S. DOD to develop vaccine against tularemia

Microbiologist Karl Klose, a professor in the UTSA College of Sciences' Department of Biology and a member of the South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, has received a contract from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to conduct research that would bring scholars one step closer to developing a vaccine against tularemia.

14 Aug 2014

Researchers discover new clue to understanding how TB medication attacks dormant TB bacteria

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health say they have discovered a new clue to understanding how the most important medication for tuberculosis (TB) works to attack dormant TB bacteria in order to shorten treatment.

13 Aug 2014

Researchers develop vaccine against potentially deadly tick-transmitted disease

Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine researchers have made an important advancement toward developing a vaccine against the debilitating and potentially deadly tick-transmitted disease, human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA).

30 Jul 2014