Borrelia can hide in the human body for years

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Even antibiotics can't always stop the bacterium

Borrelia can hide in the human body for years

Even antibiotics can't always stop the bacterium

Transmitted by tick bites, the Borrelia bacterium can hide in the human body for

up to several years in spite of antibiotic treatment. The

patient's symptoms may be so vague that it is extremely difficult to make the

connection. The research team under Professor Matti Viljanen

have now developed a mouse model that can be used to locate the hidden Borrelia

bacterium and to target treatment more accurately. Professor

Viljanen and his team are working in a joint Finnish-Swedish research consortium

under the Microbes and Man research programme that is

jointly funded by the Academy of Finland and the Swedish Foundation for

Strategic Research.

The mouse model developed by Professor Viljanen and his team closely resembles

chronic borreliosis in humans. Antibiotic treatment of

infected mice means that the bacteria can no longer be detected in the animals

by ordinary means. The symptoms, however, remain unchanged.

When the mice then receive treatment that changes their immune defence system,

the bacterium comes out of hiding, which may have continued

for months. This result lends strong support to the theory that the Borrelia

bacterium can withdraw into some unknown hiding place in the

patient's body even after antibiotic treatment. The mouse model opens the door

to locating these hiding places and the mechanisms with which

the bacterium hides itself. This in turn may pave the way to developing methods

for the treatment and prevention of borreliosis.

Ticks transmit several diseases, the most common in Scandinavia being Lyme

borreliosis. A hidden Borrelia bacterium may spread from the skin

to various organs, where it can hide and cause symptoms for years. Even at this

stage it is usually possible to evict the bacterium from the

patient's body by proper treatment. However, the symptoms persist in around one

in ten patients in spite of all treatments. Sometimes the

symptoms may be extremely severe and cause permanent disability.

For further information: - on the project: Professor Matti Viljanen (University

of Turku), tel. +358 2 3337330, matti.viljanen@...

- on the Microbes and Man Research Programme www.aka.fi/micman and Programme

Director Soile Juuti tel. +358 40 565 1529, soile.juuti@....

Academy of Finland Communications Tiina Pohjois-Koivisto tel. +358 9 7748 8327,

+358 40 833 2978 tiina.pohjois-koivisto@...

Print Last modified: 20.05.2005 13:53:20

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Per Sjöholm

Stockholm, Sweden