Lyme Disease–are bacteria evolving faster than humans?

Imagine, if you will—being recruited to participate in a game of extreme survival skills where you are the hunted. Round one. Survive the overused antibiotics. Let’s hear it for the bacteria!

Round two. Outsmart the human immune system. This round gets a little more complicated. Borrelia Burgdorferi, that teamed up with other co-infective bacteria (like Bartonella) in round one; developed a strategy to use the human immune system to their advantage. Imagine that! The cytokine response to bacterial infection is so powerful that these parasitic freeloaders have learned to manipulate the host-–cytokine pathway for their own benefit. Once the bacteria enter …read more