Cellular debris lingering in the liver and and a penicillin relative are identified

It starts with the ticks. These insects infect people with the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, microbes that are complicated to study, difficult to detect when they cause illness, and challenging to treat so they don’t linger in the human body.

Understanding that bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, requires basic research before creating diagnostics or vaccines, slow progress that is frustrating for people affected by the chronic fatigue and brain fog of long-term Lyme disease or the joint pain of Lyme arthritis.

In both studies, the scientists used mouse models to explore unique chemical components that persist in the roughly 15% of people who don’t recover from Lyme infections and go on to develop a syndrome similar to other infection-associated illnesses, including long Covid. One study tracked antigens among the bacterial remnants that travel to the liver, and the other study screened more than 500 approved antibiotics to find one that may be safer and more effective at a lower dose than standard-of-care doxycycline.