Biomarker-Based Analysis of Pain in Patients with Tick-Borne Infections before and after Antibiotic Treatment.

Antibiotics (Basel)

Department of Infectious Diseases, Catherine Mc Auley Education & Research Centre, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, 21 Nelson Street, Dublin 7, D07 A8NN Dublin, Ireland.

Published: July 2024

Tick-borne illnesses (TBIs), especially those caused by Borrelia, are increasingly prevalent worldwide. These diseases progress through stages of initial localization, early spread, and late dissemination. The final stage often leads to post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS) or chronic Lyme disease (CLD), characterized by persistent and non-specific multisystem symptoms affecting multiple systems, lasting over six months after antibiotic therapy. PTLDS significantly reduces functional ability, with 82-96% of patients experiencing pain, including arthritis, arthralgia, and myalgia. Inflammatory markers like CRP and TNF-alpha indicate ongoing inflammation, but the link between chronic pain and other biomarkers is underexplored. This study examined the relationship between pain and biomarkers in TBI patients from an Irish hospital and their response to antibiotic treatment. Pain ratings significantly decreased after antibiotic treatment, with median pain scores dropping from 7 to 5 ( = 27215.50, < 0.001). This suggests a persistent infection responsive to antibiotics. Age and gender did not influence pain ratings before and after treatment. The study found correlations between pain ratings and biomarkers such as transferrin, CD4%, platelets, and neutrophils. However, variations in these biomarkers did not significantly predict pain changes when considering biomarkers outside the study. These findings imply that included biomarkers do not directly predict pain changes, possibly indicating allostatic load in symptom variability among long-term TBI patients. The study emphasizes the need for appropriate antibiotic treatment for TBIs, highlighting human rights issues related to withholding pain relief.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11350843PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics13080693DOI Listing

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