New Lyme disease test that uses AI could lead to earlier diagnosis

As the number of crisis room visits for tick bite related incidents reaches a five-year high according to the Centers for Ailment Control and Prevention one company is working on a new test for Lyme complaint that it announced can help lead to a more accurate consequence early in the infection Related stories Justin Timberlake says he s been diagnosed with Lyme illness We re in Lyme central Maryland veterinarian warns pet owners about the threat of ticks How to protect children from Lyme condition during peak tick season Dr Paul Auwaerter a professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the clinical director for the infection illness division revealed the characteristic rash is usually a reliable indicator of Lyme complaint But he noted several people who get infected may not develop the rash instead reporting a fever and feeling unwell and the standard test isn t positive There s a newer modified two-tier testing process but Auwaerter reported there s still much room for improvement There s a window of two to four weeks when commonly used tests aren t very accurate because they re not sensitive enough to pick up the infection he stated However people who have been infected for more than four weeks typically do have positive blood tests to the most of frequently used antibody-based test for Lyme syndrome right now Auwaerter mentioned But it s in this early phase that I think these investigators are purporting that their new approach may yield improved earlier diagnoses ACES Diagnostics is working on the new test which uses a type of artificial intelligence called machine-based learning Holly Ahern the company s chief scientific officer revealed LymeSeek the test uses an algorithm to look at each individual person instead of using a standard interpretation The current tests rely on those same antigens that they ve been looking at for the past years Ahern declared Ours uses different antibodies We re looking for a whole different set of antibodies Ahern and ACES CEO Tammy Crawford stated they were motivated to find a new approach after both of their daughters got sick with a mystery illness as teenagers It became debilitating and they learned long after the indicators started that their kids had Lyme ailment CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE This image is a representation of the new test which uses a type of artificial intelligence called machine-based learning Courtesy ACES Diagnostics The test was developed with assistance from Tulane and Arizona State universities Having a test that s accurate early is so pivotal so that doctors have a tool that can give an actionable development Ahern explained They ll get a aftermath that says This victim has Lyme affection And so the next would be what we do now is prescribe the antibiotic and hopefully that will prevent long term complications down the line The company just submitted its clinical plan to the U S Food and Drug Administration and is meeting with the agency at the end of September Clinical trials are scheduled to start in January Crawford announced Auwaerter declared the bacterial infection is hard to custom except in labs so using DNA for PCR just hasn t panned out here as being better than antibody tests Anyone who has fevers or an unexplained illness could consider bringing up the possibility of a tick-borne complaint to their medical practitioner Auwaerter reported At least for Lyme complaint early detection of that remains a challenge so it s something that may need to be revisited or retested now until better tests are available Auwaerter declared Source