Lyme disease: scientific breakthrough lays groundwork for new Lyme treatment

There are 30,000 new reports of Lyme disease to the CDC each year in the United States, but that does not account for the annual estimated occurrences of Lyme. One CDC report estimates 329,000 Lyme disease diagnoses per year in a five-year span!

The higher incidence of Lyme is both due to higher tick populations, as well as improvements in diagnosis. But what happens after diagnosis? Do patients receive treatment, and go back to life as usual? Well, some do. Others, regrettably suffer from persistent Lyme disease symptoms, one of the most common is Lyme arthritis. Sufferers of Lyme arthritis endure a lifetime of joint inflammation and life-altering pain.

Lyme arthritis shows the presence of a particular cellular component of Lyme bacteria, called peptidoglycan.

Thanks to Virginia Tech biochemist, Brandon Jutras, there is hope in treatment or even a cure for Lyme arthritis on the scientific horizon! Jutras has found that during the multiplication of Lyme-causing bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, it sheds a cellular component, peptidoglycan. Peptidoglycan exists in synovial fluid of Lyme arthritis sufferers, causing inflammation.

“We can actually detect peptidoglycan in the synovial fluid of the affected, inflamed joints of patients that have all the symptoms of Lyme arthritis but no longer have an obvious, active infection,” Jutras said.

Medical Xpress

The next phase of treatment of Lyme arthritis will be to find ways to destroy or eliminate the body’s response to peptidoglycan that comes from Borrelia burgdorferi, effectively eliminating Lyme symptoms!

While these scientific breakthroughs are spreading hope throughout the population of those, who suffer with persistent Lyme disease, there is but one sure method of Central Mass Lyme disease protection, and that is by prevention.

Tick control methods are available, and should be a top priority for Central Mass residents, to prevent ticks from invading their yards and homes. A barrier spray will eliminate ticks on contact, and an additional comprehensive tick tube treatment will further prevent ticks by eliminating them when they take their first blood meal from mice. Call a professional tick control company to protect your home and family!