May 15, 2023 — Why do some people quickly recover from Lyme disease while others experience years of chronic symptoms? A new study says elevated levels of an immune system marker in the blood may be the reason.
The study, published in the CDC’s Emerging Infectious Diseases journal, says high levels of interferon-alpha were found in study participants who’d been treated for Lyme disease but still had lingering symptoms such as pain, swelling and fatigue.
Interferon-alpha is one of the signaling proteins that tells the body to fight off bacteria and viruses. Klemen Strle, PhD, an assistant research professor of molecular biology and microbiology at Tufts University and an author of the new study, told NBC News that those high levels may cause the immune system to overreact to Lyme disease and cause inflammation, even after the infection is gone.
“We think this is a possible driver of persistent symptoms,” he told NBC News.
The study only had 79 participants and did not prove cause-and-effect between high interferon-alpha levels and the persistent Lyme disease symptoms. Larger studies are needed, the researchers said.
The findings could help develop “major insights into novel therapeutic approaches” for lingering Lyme symptoms, the study said.
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection people get through tick bites. People who remove the tick within 48 hours usually won’t get infected. In infected people, the bacteria can travel through the bloodstream and affect body tissues, causing inflammation that affects the skin, joints, and nervous system before moving on to other organs.
The CDC says about 30,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported each year by state health agencies. Many cases are not reported and recent estimates suggest about 476,000 people get Lyme disease yearly, the CDC says.
