Lyme disease bacteria eradicated by new drug in early tests
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Lyme disease bacteria eradicated by new drug in early tests
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Re: Lyme disease bacteria eradicated by new drug in early tests
#2Note that they're carefully dancing around the elephant in the room: As far as I know, no one has ever demonstrated that Lyme spirochetes survive a course of standard antibiotics (Emphasis mine):
> Standard treatment of Lyme disease is oral antibiotics, typically doxycycline, in the early stages of the disease; but for reasons that are unclear, the antibiotics don't work for up to 20% of people with the tick-borne illness. One possibility is that drug-tolerant bacteria cause the lingering symptoms.
Many people experience lingering symptoms after contracting Lyme disease. Officially, this is known as "Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome". The CDC page for the PTLDS has more information: https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/postlds/index.html
These PTLDS symptoms are definitely real, but the idea that persistent lyme infection is the cause of the lingering problems is more of a hypothesis at this point.
It will be interesting to see if this new antibiotic produces different outcomes in PTLDS patients, but it's misleading to claim that this is the only antibiotic known to act on the Lyme disease spirochetes. The original study specifically explored the action of Azlocillin on Doxycycline-resistant spirochetes. From the study:
> Our results also demonstrate that azlocillin and cefotaxime can effectively kill in vitro doxycycline-tolerant B. burgdorferi.
The authors point to indirect evidence suggesting that spirochetes might still be present in PTLDS patients, but acknowledge that no one has yet been able to culture a viable spirochete from PTLDS patients:
> A recent study in humans demonstrated that B. burgdorferi DNA was identified in PTDLS patient by xenodiagnosis but unable to culture viable spirochete17. In about 85% of Lyme arthritis patients, B. burgdorferi DNA was detected in synovial fluid by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing
It would be great if this antibiotic could produce positive outcomes for PTLDS patients, but I wouldn't get too excited until we see some human studies. PTLDS (aka "chronic lyme") has a long history of promising treatments failing to produce results in patients.
Re: Lyme disease bacteria eradicated by new drug in early tests
#3"but for reasons that are unclear, the [traditional] antibiotics don't work for up to 20% of people with the tick-borne illness"
This is very exciting for a group of people that have felt forgotten and ignored by the medical industry
Re: Lyme disease bacteria eradicated by new drug in early tests
#4When I got Lyme as a teenager I was very lucky to notice a bulls-eye pattern (which not everyone gets) and quickly get treatment, with no complications after. I wonder if this new drug, or any future drugs, that work for the 20% of the people that doxycycline doesn't help, will also help people who figured out they had Lyme very late after being infected.
Re: Lyme disease bacteria eradicated by new drug in early tests
#5Note that they're carefully dancing around the elephant in the room: As far as I know, no one has ever demonstrated that Lyme spirochetes survive a course of standard antibiotics (Emphasis mine): > Standard treatment of Lyme disease is oral antibiotics, typically doxycycline, in the early stages of the disease; but for reasons that are unclear, the antibiotics don't work for up to 20% of people with the tick-borne il…
I don't have any knowledge beyond what's in this article, but it appears that there is some evidence of Lyme bacteria surviving antibiotics, and the reason why this can occur:
"According to the recent study, azlocillin shows promise because it appears to be able to kill the two morphological forms of the Lyme bacteria -- the actively replicating spiral forms and the semi-dormant round-body forms.
Azlocillin also appears to kill drug-tolerant persisters very effectively. These protective persisters form when the bacteria are threatened with defensive immune system biochemicals or antibiotics. After the threat has passed, the bacteria can reemerge to cause active disease. Many researchers believe that doxycyline's inability to clear the persisters may account for the ongoing symptoms of some Lyme sufferers."
Re: Lyme disease bacteria eradicated by new drug in early tests
#6As someone who is a very active camper (pre-zombie-apocalypses summers) a human vaccination would be wonderful. When our kid was bitten, she had the same textbook bulls eye pattern so it was easy to see a clue. They use to have one, but it was pulled off the market.
Re: Lyme disease bacteria eradicated by new drug in early tests
#7Great news! Let’s hope the FDA doesn’t hold this up for years.
Re: Lyme disease bacteria eradicated by new drug in early tests
#8Has anyone tested hydroxychloroquine against Lyme disease?
Re: Lyme disease bacteria eradicated by new drug in early tests
#9Note that they're carefully dancing around the elephant in the room: As far as I know, no one has ever demonstrated that Lyme spirochetes survive a course of standard antibiotics (Emphasis mine): > Standard treatment of Lyme disease is oral antibiotics, typically doxycycline, in the early stages of the disease; but for reasons that are unclear, the antibiotics don't work for up to 20% of people with the tick-borne il…
I don't have any knowledge beyond what's in this article, but it appears that there is some evidence of Lyme bacteria surviving antibiotics, and the reason why this can occur: "According to the recent study, azlocillin shows promise because it appears to be able to kill the two morphological forms of the Lyme bacteria -- the actively replicating spiral forms and the semi-dormant round-body forms. Azlocillin also appe…
Yes, but note that they also admit that we only have some indirect suggestions that persistent infection is the cause of PTLDS symptoms:
> Many researchers believe that doxycyline's inability to clear the persisters may account for the ongoing symptoms of some Lyme sufferers
"Many researchers believe" is not the language you use when you have concrete evidence supporting the claim.
To date, no one has been able to culture these supposedly persistent bacteria from a PTLSD patient. Researchers are relying on indirect evidence, with no explanation for why the spirochetes can't be found in PTLSD patients.
Re: Lyme disease bacteria eradicated by new drug in early tests
#10Note that they're carefully dancing around the elephant in the room: As far as I know, no one has ever demonstrated that Lyme spirochetes survive a course of standard antibiotics (Emphasis mine): > Standard treatment of Lyme disease is oral antibiotics, typically doxycycline, in the early stages of the disease; but for reasons that are unclear, the antibiotics don't work for up to 20% of people with the tick-borne il…
Do PTLDS patients actually show active antibodies against lyme? That would be a good indication what’s going on.