Biting back against Lyme disease

Now Dr Richard Bingham at the University of Huddersfield is on the trail of an accurate test that will enable quick and accurate detection of Lyme disease.

Dr Richard Bingham’s goal is an accurate test that will mean quick and effective treatment of a tick-borne ailment that can have devastating effects

The British Paralympic archer Mel Clarke has spoken about her devastating experiences after she caught the infection while competing in the UK’s able-bodied archery team in the USA. She is now confined to a wheelchair and has issued urgent advice not to ignore the early symptoms of the disease.

Lyme disease’s flu-like early symptoms, including chronic tiredness, are shared with many ailments, so that doctors face diagnostic dilemmas. If treatment begins at a late stage, patients face a gruelling 28-day course of anti-biotics - and even after that, symptoms can return.

Dr Bingham’s research focuses on the cause of Lyme disease, a spiral-shaped bacteria named Borrelia burgdorferi, which has the capacity to bind itself to human proteins, enabling it to invade various tissues and to camouflage itself against immune systems. Unlike most bacteria, it can even cross the “blood-brain barrier”, leading to serious neurological infection.

Borrelia is carried by ticks, and in the UK and Europe they lurk in long, damp grass or on the branches of trees.

“When a warm blooded mammal comes along, the ticks attach themselves to the skin and start to feed,” explained Dr Bingham.

“The bacteria is actually inside the gut of the tick and it gets injected into the host through the salivary glands of the tick and once in your bloodstream, it starts to reproduce and can cause a quite nasty infection.”

The first sign is a circular “bullseye rash” as the  bacteria spread out from the bite. Then they gain access to the bloodstream and will cause symptoms  including a high temperature and tiredness.

“But many people have such flu-like symptoms and they don’t realise they have got this bacterial infection, so they don’t go to the doctors and therefore miss these classic signs of Lyme disease, “ said Dr Bingham.

Diagnosis and anti-biotic treatment at this early stage is vital in order to avoid the stage of infection known as late-borreliosis.

But  doctors are confronted by symptoms that are shared by a number of diseases and conditions, making diagnosis difficult.

Now, assisted by two PhD students and an undergraduate researcher, Dr Bingham is using techniques including X-ray diffraction, small angle X-ray scattering and circular dichroism spectroscopy in order to reproduce the bacterial proteins that lead to Lyme disease.  He will be aided by a major programme of investment in laboratory facilities at  the chemistry department of the University’s School of Applied Sciences.

The research will result in greater understanding of the molecular structure of Borrelia, which could lead to new treatments. Also, the pharmaceutical industry could also develop new diagnostic tools so that Lyme disease can conclusively be detected at an early stage.

• In the UK the number of cases of Lyme disease confirmed by blood testing rose from 346 in 2003 to 1, 578 in 2009. But the real rate of infection is almost certainly much higher. The Health Protection Agency estimates that there could be up to 3,000 new cases in the UK every year.