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Some 300,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with Lyme disease every year. Caused by Borrelia burgdorferi and transmitted by the bite of infected Ixodes ticks, the disease if left untreated can cause serious neurologic, cardiac, and/or rheumatologic complications. Current testing for Lyme disease, called the standard 2-tiered approach or the STT, involves running two complex assays (ELISA and western […]
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When researchers examined the mitochondrial DNA of Ötzi, a man entombed in ice high in the Tyrolean Alps some 5,300 years ago, they made a startling discovery. Secreted within the tangles of the ice man’s genetic code was evidence he’d been infected with a bacterial pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi. Ötzi is the first known case of Lyme disease. Today, Lyme disease […]
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May marks the beginning of the summer season when black-legged ticks that spread Lyme disease are more prevalent – even in California. Earlier this month, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that cases of tickborne diseases had more than doubled from 2004 to 2016, from 22,000 to 48,000, and that Lyme disease accounted for 82 percent […]
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You go for a walk in the woods, return home, and later notice a tiny new bump behind your ear. A closer look reveals the bump to be a passenger from the forest. You have a tick. Now what? The first step is to remove that sucker with tweezers, said University Distinguished Professor of Biology Kim Lewis, who directs Northeastern’s Antimicrobial […]
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