A young researcher may have come up with a better test for Lyme disease. When Temple Douglas was a high school intern at George Mason University, researchers were using a technique to test for microscopic cancer particles, and she wondered if it could work to test for Lyme disease.
Only 40 percent of people get the tell-tale bulls-eye rash after a tick bite and current lab tests can give false positives.
The new test uses microscopic particles that capture Lyme bacteria in a patient’s urine. George Mason University researcher Dr. Lance Liotta says, “the bacteria that’s really causing this effect, we’re testing it directly, and we’re testing it with a high sensitivity that’s never achieved before. “
Dr. Liotta says he hopes the test will detect Lyme before symptoms appear. The goal is to treat the bacteria right after the tick bite so that the illness can be completely cured with antibiotics
Meantime, Temple is now working on cancer research at Virginia Tech.
