Scientists learn why the body may continue to respond to an invisible threat long after bacterial death. Symptoms that persist long after Lyme disease is treated are not uncommon — a 2022 study found that 14 percent of patients who were diagnosed and treated early with antibiotic therapy would still develop Post Treatment Lyme Disease (PTLD). Yet doctors puzzle over the condition’s causes and how to help their patients through symptoms ranging from severe fatigue and cognitive challenges to body pain and arthritis.
Now, as detailed a study published in Science Translational Medicine, Northwestern University scientists believe they know what causes the treated infection to mimic chronic illness: the body may be responding to remnants of the Borrelia burgdorferi (the bacteria that causes Lyme) cell wall, which breaks down during treatment yet lingers in the liver.