Antibiotics Given For Lyme Disease

What To Expect With Medication Treatment For Lyme Disease

Antibiotics for Lyme Disease

You might have some side effects from both the disease and the medication treatment. Your doctor might suggest other things to make you feel more comfortable. Antidepressants and pain relief treatment may help. You might also be asked to do physical therapy, stretching or exercises or change your diet.Some people still have symptoms of Lyme disease after being treated. This is call post-Lyme disease syndrome. Doctors don’t know why some people get it and others don’t. It usually makes you feel tired and have sore muscles. Using more antibiotics doesn’t help, but other treatments may help you feel better.

Tetracycline Plus Rifamycin Plus Disulfiram

minocycline 100 mg 1 pill 2 times a day
rifampin 300 mg 2 pills 1 time a day
disulfiram 4 to 5 mg/ kg body weight. Work up to this dose slowly over 2 months then remain on the disulfiram at the peak dose for 4 months before tapering off.

Key Points:

This minocycine and rifampin in this combination are as useful for treating a Bartonella co-infection. Co-infections are other germs passed on during a tick bite. If someone has a co-infection, when possible I choose antibiotic combinations that simultaneously treat Lyme germs and the co-infection germs.
The disulfiram is added here to treat persister Lyme. Note disulfiram does not appear to treat Bartonella.

Several Antibiotics Appear Effective Against Early

Most cases of Lyme disease, which is an infection carried by ticks, can be easily managed if treated early using antibiotics, with choice of antibiotic agent having little bearing on success.

This network meta-analysis suggests that when symptoms of the disease are confined to a localised skin infection, treatment failures are relatively infrequent, only 2% at 12 months. Effective antibiotics include penicillin V, doxycycline, azithromycin, cefuroxime, amoxicillin and ceftriaxone plus doxycycline.

The research has significant limitations, but choice, dose and duration of antibiotics appear to have little impact on outcomes. This research does not suggest that guidelines need to be reviewed.

Also Check: Can Any Tick Carry Lyme Disease

Chronic Lyme Disease Or Postlyme Disease Syndrome

Following an episode of Lyme disease that is treated appropriately, some persons have a variety of subjective complaints . Some of these patients have been classified as having chronic Lyme disease or postLyme disease syndrome, which are poorly defined entities. These patients appear to be a heterogeneous group. Although European patients rarely have been reported to have residual infection with B. burgdorferi , this has yet to be substantiated either in a large series of appropriately treated European patients or in a study of North American patients. Residual subjective symptoms that last weeks or months also may persist after other medical diseases . It has also been recognized that the prevalence of fatigue and/or arthralgias in the general population is > 10% .

In areas of endemicity, coinfection with B. microti or the Ehrlichia species that causes HGE may explain persistent symptoms for a small number of these patients . Randomized controlled studies of treatment of patients who remain unwell after standard courses of antibiotic therapy for Lyme disease are in progress. To date, there are no convincing published data showing that repeated or prolonged courses of oral or iv antimicrobial therapy are effective for such patients. The consensus of the IDSA expert-panel members is that there is insufficient evidence to regard chronic Lyme disease as a separate diagnostic entity.

New Antibiotic A Possible Alternative To Treat Lyme Disease

Posted: 20 October 2021 | Anna Begley |

The antimicrobial hygromycin A was shown to clear Lyme disease in mice, representing a promising therapeutic against the disease.

Researchers at the Northeastern University in Boston and the University of Oklahoma, both US, have identified an antibiotic that may not only work to cure Lyme disease but may also help eradicate its occurrence from the environment.

NEWS: Novel living medicine could treat antibiotic-resistant infections READ HERE

Lyme disease affects an estimated 300,000 people in the US alone. Although early antibiotic treatment is effective for most patients, some 10 to 20 percent of patients continue to suffer from symptoms that may include fatigue, muscle pain and cognitive impairment for over six months after therapy. The significance of this debilitating disease has been recently brought into focus by a set of very similar symptoms in patients with long COVID.

Furthermore, the antibiotics currently used to treat Lyme disease are broad-spectrum with significant effects on the human gut microbiome and the potential for increasing resistance in non-target bacteria. The team therefore sought to identify a compound acting with a narrower spectrum of activity against B. burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.

This selective antibiotic holds the promise of providing a better therapeutic for treating Lyme disease and eradicating it in the environment

How Can Lyme Disease Be Prevented

Unfortunately, there is currently no vaccine for Lyme disease. But you can avoid Lyme disease by avoiding tick bites, checking for ticks, and removing ticks promptly, before they become lodged in the skin. Some tips:

Avoid tick playgrounds: Ticks like low-level shrubs and grasses, particularly at the edges of wooded areas. If youre hiking, try to stay in the center of the trail and avoid bushwhacking. Walk on cleared paths or pavement through wooded areas and fields when possible.

Dress appropriately: Long pants with legs tucked into socks and closed-toed shoes will help keep ticks away from skin. Light-colored clothing helps make ticks visible.

Insect repellant: Products that contain DEET repel ticks but do not kill them and are not 100 percent effective. Use a brand of insect repellent that is designated as child-safe if your child is 1 year or older. For infants, check with your pediatrician about what brands are safe to use. You can also treat clothing with a product that contains permethrin, which is known to kill ticks on contact.

Shower after outdoor activities are done for the day. It may take four to six hours for ticks to attach firmly to skin. Showering will help remove unattached ticks.

all parts of the body that bend: behind the knees, between fingers and toes, underarms and groin
other areas where ticks are commonly found: belly button, in and behind the ears, neck, hairline, and top of the head
anywhere clothing presses on the skin

What Does Current Guidance Say On This Issue

NICE guidance on Lyme disease states that those without focal symptoms should receive 100mg oral doxycycline twice a day or 200mg once per day for 21 days. The first alternative to this is oral amoxicillin, 1g three times per day for 21 days and the second alternative is oral azithromycin, 500mg daily for 17 days.

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Characterization Of B Burgdorferi Persisters

The presence of persisters is indicated by a biphasic pattern in a time-dependent killing experiment. The bulk of the population is rapidly killed, followed by a lower rate of death in a subpopulation of tolerant cells . In order to determine whether B. burgdorferi forms persisters, time-dependent killing experiments were performed with antibiotics commonly prescribed to patients with Lyme disease. Doxycycline is a bacteriostatic protein synthesis inhibitor amoxicillin and ceftriaxone inhibit bacterial cell wall synthesis and are bactericidal for many bacteria. MICs of doxycycline, amoxicillin, and ceftriaxone were determined . Levels of antibiotics close to what is achievable with standard clinically prescribed treatment dosing were chosen to evaluate persister formation in B. burgdorferi, and we used colony forming unit counts to determine viability.

How Is Lyme Disease Diagnosed And Treated

Antibiotics to Treat Lyme Disease with Anna-Marie Wellins, DNP

Lyme disease is usually diagnosed when a person develops a bull’s-eye rash, flu-like symptoms , or both. These symptoms usually start a few days or weeks after the person is bitten by an infected tick.

A two-step blood test can verify the presence of Lyme disease antibodies, although it does take a few weeks for those antibodies to develop. And despite what some physicians and advocacy groups claim, a blood test is the only way Lyme disease can be confirmed, Larry Zemel, MD, head of rheumatology at Connecticut Childrens Medical Center, tells Health. Some doctors say they can diagnose Lyme even when patients test negative repeatedly, but that has not been borne out by any scientific study, he says.

When people are diagnosed with Lyme disease in its early stages, a 10- to 20-day course of oral antibioticsusually with a drug called doxycyclinewill clear the infection and help them feel better fairly quickly. This cures the vast majority of people, and they have a 100% recovery with no lasting effects, says Dr. Zemel.

If Lyme disease isnt diagnosed right away, it can cause more serious symptoms like arthritis and memory problems. These people may need a full month of oral antibiotics, says Dr. Zemel. About 20% of these patients will need IV antibiotics , and they may also need other medications to treat symptoms like pain and muscle stiffness.

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What Did This Study Do

This network meta-analysis included 19 randomised controlled trials involving 2,532 people with erythema migrans due to Lyme disease. No trials were based in the UK most were from the United States or Europe.

Each trial compared two or three antibiotics. Doxycycline was the most frequently used antibiotic. A number of doses and treatment durations were represented. For example, treatment length for doxycycline ranged from 10 to 21 days. For the main analyses, doxycycline was used as the reference treatment.

Both direct and indirect data were extracted from the studies. This approach is helpful when there is a shortage of head to head research, but this, and the overall low quality of included studies means that results need to be treated with some caution.

How To Treat Lyme Disease In Dogs

This article was co-authored by Pippa Elliott, MRCVS. Dr. Elliott, BVMS, MRCVS is a veterinarian with over 30 years of experience in veterinary surgery and companion animal practice. She graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1987 with a degree in veterinary medicine and surgery. She has worked at the same animal clinic in her hometown for over 20 years.There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 11,813 times.

In areas where Lyme disease is common, like the northeastern U.S., more than half of all dogs may carry the bacteria that can cause the disease. However, less than 10% of these canine carriers will ever show symptoms and require treatment. Blood tests can confirm B. burgdorferi bacteria, but its typically the appearance of symptoms like fever, stiffness, joint swelling, and loss of appetite that triggers veterinary treatment. Fortunately, when treated early, canine Lyme disease typically responds quickly to antibiotics.

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Touched By Lyme: The Promise Of A Targeted Drug For Lyme Disease

An exciting announcement rippled through the Lyme community recently. Well-known Lyme researcher Dr. Kim Lewis of Northeastern University has identified an antibiotic that appears to selectively kill Lyme spirochetes while leaving gut microbes alone.

This is highly significant because there hasnt been a drug developed specifically to treat Lyme disease inwell, forever.

Lets walk through what we know about this promising discoveryand what we still need to find out.

Why Are Antibiotics The First Line Of Treatment For Lyme Disease

The use of antibiotics is critical for treating Lyme disease. Without antibiotic treatment, the Lyme disease causing bacteria can evade the host immune system, disseminate through the blood stream, and persist in the body. Antibiotics go into the bacteria preferentially and either stop the multiplication of the bacteria or disrupt the cell wall of the bacteria and kill the bacteria . By stopping the growth or killing the bacteria the human host immune response is given a leg up to eradicate the residual infection. Without antibiotics, the infection in Lyme disease can evade the host immune system and more readily persist.

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Macrolide Plus Azole Plus Liposomal Essential Oils

clarithromycin 500 mg 1 pill 2 times a day
tinidazole 500 mg 1 pill 2 or 3 times a day.
liposomal cinnamon, clove & oregano oil 1 capsule 2 times a day

Key Points

Tinidazole treats cysts and can remove biofilms that block the immune system and antibiotics.
Liposomal cinnamon, clove & oregano oil can treat persister and growing forms of Lyme. Of the various herbal options to treat persiters – this is my go to persister herbal anti-microbial based on benefits I see in my practice.

Iv Antibiotic Regimen: Cephalosporin Plus Azole Plus Liposomal Cinnamon Clove And Oregano

ceftriaxone 2 gm IV 2 times a day for 4 days on and 3 days off
tinidazole 500 mg taken orally 1 pill 2-3 times a day for 4 days on and 3 days off in 7-day cycles
liposomal cinnamon, clove, and oregano capsules 1 pill 2 times a day

Key Points:

Various antibiotics can be used as IV. I use this one most commonly because it is the easiest to administer and one of the lowest cost IV regimens. The ceftriaxone is given in a syringe and injected over 10 minutes. This is also a pulse dose regimen . Ceftriaxone could be given daily instead as 2 gm IV 1 time a day.
I have found various pulse dose regimens of tinidazole to work. These include 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off or in the regimen seen here.

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Giving Your Dog Antibiotics

1Use doxycycline as a prescribed antibiotic treatment. For many vets, doxycycline is the first-choice antibiotic for canine Lyme disease. They will typically prescribe a dose of 10 mg per kilogram of the dogs weight, to be given in pill form twice a day for at least 30 days.XResearch source

Some dogs may develop diarrhea, vomiting, or loss of appetite while on doxycycline. Contact your vet if these become severe.XResearch source

2Give your dog oxytetracycline if its prescribed instead. This is an effective antibiotic alternative to doxycycline for canine Lyme disease. It is also readily available, and relatively inexpensive, which is good because the treatment often has to last for at least 30 days.XResearch source

The typical dose is 10mg/kg by mouth, twice a day for 30 days.

Contact your vet if your dog develops severe diarrhea, vomiting, or loss of appetite.

Avoid giving milk or dairy products with this medication, because it stops the medication from being absorbed into the bloodstream.

3Give younger dogs potentiated amoxicillin. Other antibiotics like oxytetracycline can cause yellow discoloration of the tooth enamel to occur, especially for younger dogs that still have their milk teeth . Amoxicillin doesnt cause this yellowing, so its usually a good choice for dogs that are six months old or younger.

Potentiated amoxicillin may be more expensive than other Lyme disease treatment medications.

The typical dose is 20 mg/kg by mouth, three times a day for 30 days.

What To Try If You Have Failed Years Of Antibiotics

Prolonged Intravenous Antibiotic Therapy for Neurologic Lyme Disease – Raphael B. Stricker, MD

In my practice for those that have failed years of regular antibiotics I offer two persister oriented regimes. Both of these regimens have some published clinical evidence of benefit. One regimen I offer is a Horowitz dapsone persister regimen. The other option I offer is a disulfiram only regimen or a disulfiram combination regimen . You can read more details about how to take both of these regimens in

Dapsone for Lyme Persisters. A Miracle Antibiotic?

Is Lyme Disease Curable

The tick-borne illness can be treated with antibiotics, and most people make a full recovery within weeks or months. So why is there so much confusion?

In much of the country, spring and summer mean warmer weather and spending more time outdoors. Unfortunately, it also means that the ticks that carry Lyme disease bacteria may be out in full force, especially in wooded or grassy areas.

About 30,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported each year to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, although experts estimate that 10 times that amount may actually be infected. Thats concerning, because if left untreated, Lyme disease can cause nerve damage, memory loss, dangerous inflammation around the heart, and other permanent health problems.

But the good news is that Lyme disease is also very treatableespecially when its diagnosed soon after symptoms begin. Lyme disease is always curable, Daniel Kuritzkes, MD, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston, tells Health. The medications we have are very effective at getting rid of the infection. Heres what else you need to know.

RELATED: How Do You Get Lyme Disease?

What Happens At Your Appointment

The GP will ask about your symptoms and consider any rash or recent tick bites you know about.

Lyme disease can be difficult to diagnose. It has similar symptoms to other conditions and there’s not always an obvious rash.

2 types of blood test are available to help confirm or rule out Lyme disease. But these tests are not always accurate in the early stages of the disease.

You may need to be retested if you still have Lyme disease symptoms after a negative result.

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What Factors Determine How Patients Respond To Treatment

To find out what made some patient substantially improve or become well, we turned to our academic partners at the University of California at Los Angeles who specialize in artificial intelligence and machine learning. Their team looked at 215 features related to diagnostic factors, treatment approach, duration of individual antibiotics, alternative treatments, symptoms, type of clinician, and functional impairment to identify the 30 top predictive features for treatment response . Most of the top 30 features identified in their study related to chronic Lyme disease treatment , symptom severity , and type of clinician treating Lyme disease. We analyzed three of these factors associated with treatment response:

Treatment approach
Treatment durations
Type of clinician overseeing the patients care