Antibiotic gel for Lyme disease

Novel Lyme disease therapy tested

18/09/2011

Lyme disease is in addition to the so-called tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) one of the health-threatening consequences of tick bites. Researchers have now investigated a new method that can treat Lyme disease much more efficiently than before: liquid antibiotic gel.

Usually the infectious disease Lyme disease is treated after a diagnosis by means of several weeks of antibiotic therapy. If the medication can not be successful in treatment, the infectious disease threatens to go into a chronic stage. In addition, the antibiotic therapy itself can bring significant side effects. Therefore, researchers have been seeking for some time methods that improve the efficiency of the treatment while reducing the risk of side effects. Scientists around the veterinary bacteriologist Professor Reinhard Straubinger from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich have now developed a new gel from the antibiotic azithromycin and successfully tested in initial experiments.

Threatening side effects of previous antibiotic therapy
The tick-borne infectious disease borreliosis can progress relatively quickly to a chronic stage of disease in which the pathogens multiply massively in the body, infest numerous other organs and cause serious health problems. The typical symptoms of chronic Lyme disease, according to the experts, for example, changing joint pain, visual disturbances, touch and heart problems. In addition, spinal cord diseases, neuritis and other neuronal disorders are possible consequences of Lyme disease infection. Once the disease reaches a chronic stage, therapeutic treatment is extremely difficult and rarely successful. All the more important, therefore, is an early diagnosis. However, the symptoms in the early stages of the disease are often relatively nonspecific. Only the widening reddish rash surrounding the puncture wound is considered to be one of the most easily recognized Lyme disease features. However, this is not the case for all concerned and the other flu-like symptoms such as fatigue, fever, headache, muscle and joint pain often do not raise suspicion of Lyme disease infection.

Borreliosis is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and related bacterial species that are released into the human organism by the ticks during the sucking process. Since according to the experts in Western Europe between 30 and 50 percent of the ticks carry the pathogenic bacteria, the risk of infection after a tick bite is not to be underestimated. If the suspected Lyme disease infection, the patients are usually subjected to several weeks of antibiotic therapy, the drug is often administered intravenously. This increases the risk of side effects, according to the Munich researchers led by Professor Reinhard Straubinger. In addition, the treatment must be initiated in suspected Lyme infection often without direct evidence of the pathogens, as the bacteria immediately after the tick bite usually can not be detected by a blood test.

Key benefits of the new Lyme disease therapy
The method developed by the Munich researchers is based on a liquid antibiotic gel, which is attached directly to the puncture wound with the aid of a plaster. In animal experiments, Professor Reinhard Straubinger and colleagues were able to prove that the patches with the liquid antibiotic gel quasi stifle an infection with Borrelia. Their investigations have already progressed so far that in the next step, the novel Lyme disease therapy is to be tested on infected people in a phase III study, said the scientists of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. „In our approach, the antibiotic is applied directly to the sting site via a transparent, self-adhesive patch“ and since „Only very little antibiotic is contained, the effect remains locally limited,“ explained Prof. Straubinger. Due to the limited amount and range of active ingredients, hardly any side effects occur, the Munich researcher emphasized the advantages of the new Lyme disease therapy. (Fp)

Also read about Lyme Disease:
By tick bite Lyme disease and TBE
Health: The time of the ticks has begun
Ticks are best removed with tweezers
TBE and Lyme disease by tick bites
Prevention: Do not panic with ticks
Health: No vaccination against ticks

Picture credits: Echino