A more accurate and effective test than current Lyme disease tests

Two scientists at Texas A&M University are studying how to improve the treatment of Lyme disease, and they have developed a more accurate and effective detection method than current infection detection
.

According to the Bay Area Lyme Foundation, Lyme disease is the fastest-growing vector-borne disease in the United States, challenging to diagnose and only treatable
in the early stages of infection.
Once the infection spreads to the nervous and muscular systems, it is harder to detect and less sensitive
to antibiotics.

Dr.
Artem Rogovskyy, associate professor in the College of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) at Texas A&M University, and Dmitry Kurouski, Ph.
D.
, assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics and the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University, are testing Raman spectroscopy, a technique used to detect vibrations at the molecular level, as a diagnostic tool
for Lyme disease.

The results of Rogovskyy and Kurouski's second paper on Raman spectroscopy as a diagnostic tool for Lyme disease show that Raman spectroscopy more accurately identifies blood samples from mice and humans infected with the pathogen of Lyme disease than two-layer serology, which is currently the only diagnostic method
approved in the United States to diagnose human Lyme disease.

"We are working to develop a simpler, cheaper and more accurate detection method
," Rozosky said.
"Precise, I mean highly sensitive and highly specific
at the same time.
"

Increased accuracy of Raman spectroscopy can improve diagnostic practice
for Lyme disease in humans and animals believed to have been in contact with the disease.

For animals, the new test requires smaller samples that can be easily collected on-site away from veterinary clinics or hospitals, improving mobile veterinary practice
.

For humans, Raman spectroscopy can significantly reduce the time it takes to complete a test, improve diagnostic accuracy, reduce the cost of diagnosing disease, and improve overall health outcomes
by diagnosing disease earlier and more definitively.

Rogovskyy said the team is validating the test with further research, and if validated, it could become an important tool for diagnosing Lyme disease globally, especially in more remote areas outside the United States, where Lyme disease is endemic because it can be tested
outside of traditional medical and hospital settings.

The researchers' collaborative efforts were supported by a grant from the Bay Area Lyme Disease Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works with world-class scientists and institutions to accelerate medical breakthroughs
in Lyme disease.
They also obtained human blood samples
from the Lyme Disease Biobank, a clinical specimen bank.

The first paper published by Rogovskyy and Kurouski on Raman spectroscopy is the first proof-of-concept study
to explore Raman spectroscopy to diagnose Lyme pathogen-infected mice.
Their second paper included data from Raman spectroscopy testing of mouse samples infected with the European pathogen of Lyme disease, as well as a large number of human blood samples
from the Lyme disease biobank.

Rogovskyy expects that they may publish more findings in about two years from the next phase of their research, which requires blinded testing of human samples
.