Urine Test Revolutionizes Lyme Disease Detection

May is Lyme disease awareness month, and there's exceptionally good news to be aware of this month —an accurate urine test has been developed that promises early detection of the disease. Early detection means the possibility of a cure with antibiotics before acute-stage progression.

Conventional Lyme disease testing is through blood analysis, and it has proven so ineffective there's a law in Virginia that requires doctors to tell patients of the tests shortcomings.

Researchers at Ceres Nanosciences a spinoff of George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., have developed a novel approach that pinpoints the presence of Lyme disease antigens in urine previously undetectable. The new technology is revolutionary because it uses nanotechnology to trap the antigens, binding them together before they can degrade in the body. Such aggregation then allows detection.

The company has been offering the test — albeit with limited access — for more than a year, but hopes to branch out with point of care version, meaning a local lab or doctor's office would be able to provide results.

In the meantime, the Western Connecticut Health Network, which houses a Lyme disease biobank, is expanding its resources to include urine samples of those infected. Urine samples from the Lyme disease biobank will play a key role in establishing the effectiveness of urine testing — the results of which will help speed the test to patients' bedsides. The biobank currently houses blood samples from those infected with Lyme disease.

In clinical trials, Ceres tested 24 patients diagnosed with Lyme disease, 12 of whom tested positive, and the rest tested negative at various stages under various conditions. All 24 tested positive for Lyme disease using the Ceres test.

They also examined 120 patients without Lyme disease, three of whom were symptomatic and 117 of whom were asymptomatic. All 120 tested negative using the Ceres test.

Ceres' urine test may provide faster and more confident detection, long before the disease approaches the severe stage, which can be debilitating.

Ceres presented its findings in a 2015 research paper in the Journal of Translational Medicine.

In 2015, the company received a $746,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a urine-based tuberculosis test for easier diagnosis of the without the need for highly-trained personnel.