For me there’s nothing
quite as frightening as insects, I can’t quite explain why they frighten me but
I can say with some certainly that I’m not a fan, and while this fear of mine
is rather irrational there is one insect that is found in the New England area
that we should at least be mindful of and, that’s Ixodes scapularis otherwise
known as the deer tick. The deer tick is the primary carrier of lyme
disease. Lyme disease itself is caused by a bacterium known as Borrelia
burgdorferi, this bacteria is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected
deer ticks. In the New England area alone there were 450 cases (CDC) of lyme disease in 2013. Traditionally
antibiotics such as doxycycline or amoxicillin have been considered the most
effective for treating lyme disease, and while these treatments are very
effective a remaining 10-12% of patients treated with these antibiotics (CDC)
still have lingering symptoms of this disease. These lingering symptoms are
known as post-treatment lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS), and as of now theres is
no way to test for PTLDS since bacteria cannot be cultured after antibiotic
treatment. But researchers at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
are hoping to change that.
Researchers say that they have developed a new test for lyme disease that
targets these remaining bacteria that may be getting left behind after the
normal antibiotic treatment of lyme disease. This test allows researchers to
determine the effectiveness of different antibiotic treatments on the killing of bacteria that makes up lyme disease. The test does this by staining the living
bacteria that remains after antibiotic treatment green and dead or dying
bacteria red. This is significant because it will allow researchers to quickly
test many different antibiotics in an effort to find new and more effective
treatments options for people with lyme disease. This research is particularly
important to me as someone who has witnessed first hand the damaging effects
that lyme disease can have on another persons body. My hope is that through
this new test we can discover new and better treatments that will eventually
lead to an end of worrying about lyme disease altogether.
David Rains, Group C
Interesting post! I know you mention that this test will allow researchers to identify antibiotics that will be effective against these remaining bacteria, but are there antibiotics that work against them? Since they were "left over" from the previous treatment, are they resistant at all? Or do they just need a different kind of general antibiotic?
ReplyDelete- Carolyn McDonagh
Well I don't know the extent to which these remaining bacteria are resistant to antibiotic treatment but the idea of this new test is to help find more effective antibiotics for the treatment of lyme disease. So getting back to your question I believe these remaining bacteria do in fact need a different type of antibiotic, so hopefully this new test help find these new antibiotics.
DeleteDavid Rains, Group C
Nice post! I've had my concerns about lyme disease, but never knew how to treat it or what exactly caused it other than an infected tick. I'm glad to learn that we're progressing even further on the treatment!
ReplyDelete~ Mitch
Thank-you for your comment, it is very exciting indeed to know that we are hopefully coming closer to new and improved treatment for this disease.
DeleteDavid Rains, Group C
Nice job! My sister once had to spend a few days in a hospital because she had lyme disease. I think that the ability to quickly see if the bacteria is affected by the antibiotics would be a really good improvement to the treatment of lyme disease.
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