Lyme Disease Cure: New Tests Make It Easier To Detect

A detection test designed for early diagnosis of Lyme disease has been found effective. With this, one of the main problems associated with lyme disease - late detection and diagnosis - are now potentially solved.

Science Daily reported that George Mason University devoted three years to research about this test. With the help of data obtained from 300 patients, the researchers now have proof that their early detection urine test for Lyme disease works. The research is now published in the "Journal of Translational Medicine."  

The problem with lyme disease is that even though some patients may still have active cases, traditional tests are not able to detect these. As a result, patients are not being diagnosed correctly and therefore, not receiving the additional round of treatments necessary. 

The co-director and medical director of the center behind the research described the study as the largest of it kind. "We are looking at a highly specific protein shed from the surface of the bacteria that causes Lyme," said Lance Liotta. 

With these successful findings, the researchers are now applying the same approach to other deadly diseases of ebola, malaria, and tuberculosis. The research team is now also coordinating with a private company called Ceres Nanoscience to develop the test so that it can work like a pregnancy test. 

The Mason technology, as it is called, works during the earliest stages of disease. The technology is now patented by the National Institutes of Health. 

"If the patient gets better, the test goes negative," Liotta said. "It's a good way to monitor the patient."

"We're looking to repeat the story again with these other diseases," said Alessandra Luchini, a Mason professor who led the Lyme test research and co-invented the technology. "Other targets for the new type of test include Chagas disease, which is infectious and caused by a parasite, and toxoplasmosis, another parasite-borne disease."

Another important breakthrough when it comes to the Lyme disease is the availability of a new over-the-counter test in Canada. The Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation said the test can determine if a tick has the Lyme bacteria, CBC News reported. 

The Care Plus Tick Test is made by Dutch company Tropicare. Reportedly, the test can determine within 10 minutes whether a tick has the Borrelia burgdorferi, which is the main cause of Lyme disease, particularly in Canada.