Testing, case definitions, and reporting information for public health departments

Publication date: Available online 8 August 2025 Source: Acta Tropica Author(s): Ankita Sarkar, Paramita Banerjee, Abhijit Mazumdar

Lyme Disease is a multisystem infectious disease caused by the Borellia burgdorferi complex, and is a growing threat to public health. Approximately 476,000 people are infected with Lyme in the United States each year. Although Lyme is readily treated with antibiotics when detected early, early detection remains difficult. Current testing remains difficult because the standard 2-tiered ELISA/Western assay indirectly detects Lyme via measurement of a host immune response, which suffers from an inherent time-lag in host antibody production. A direct test for Lyme Disease would overcome these inherent limitations. To this end we report on the first microfluidic immunocapture device for Lyme Disease. We engineered a geometrically enhanced differential immunocapture (GEDI) technology to capture whole-organism Borrelia for direct on-chip detection. This approach is potentially amenable with other work in the field to develop direct PCR or aptamer tests for Lyme Disease, as our device could serve as a platform to drastically enhance the concentration of present Borrelia into a small volume.

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Culicoides (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae) biting midges serve as vectors of viruses, bacteria, filaria, and protozoans, such as dixenous avian blood parasites (Trypanosomatidae). Additionally, these insects can harbour insect-specific flagellates-monoxenous trypanosomatids-which are generally considered harmless commensals; however, in certain cases, they can increase mortality or reduce the fitness of their insect hosts. Recent studies indicate that the prevalence of trypanosomatids in wild-caught...