Contact: Caroline Cornish | caroline.cornish@mainehealth.org
Portland, Maine – MaineHealth is a collaborating institution with Tufts University School of Medicine on what promises to be one of the largest studies of post-treatment Lyme disease in North America. The five-year study, funded by a $20.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), aims to discover the reasons why some patients fail to fully recover from Lyme disease after standard courses of antibiotics. MaineHealth will receive $3.1 million over the life of the grant for its role in the study.
As part of the research, the study team plans to recruit a total of 1,000 patients as soon as they receive their diagnosis of Lyme disease and follow them over the course of a year. In Maine, patients will be recruited at MaineHealth physicians’ offices throughout the health system’s service area. The goal is to understand mechanisms causing delayed recovery after treatment and to search for biomarkers that are different in patients who go on to have persistent Lyme disease symptoms from those who fully recover from the disease.
“The study will incorporate the latest scientific advances in microbial and host genetics and measures of immune response to infection,” said Dr. Rob Smith, director of the Vector-Borne Disease Lab at the MaineHealth Institute for Research (MHIR) and the clinical operations lead for this study. “We’re also hoping that by following patients from their earliest diagnosis, we will create a robust data bank that will lead to new avenues for treatment of persons with persistent symptoms such as fatigue, pain and brain fog.”
Symptoms of untreated Lyme disease include a rash (often, but not always in the shape of a bullseye), fever, chills, fatigue, muscle and joint pain. Most times, symptoms appear between three and 30 days after a person is bitten by an infected tick. If left untreated, Lyme disease can lead to arthritis, difficulty with memory and concentration, and heart problems. Treatment with antibiotics is highly effective. But five to 20 percent of people who recover from the acute symptoms of Lyme disease after treatment suffer persistent illness with symptoms similar to those of Long COVID. The causes of these post-infective illnesses are not known.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Maine has some of the highest rates of Lyme disease in the nation.
“The MaineHealth Institute for Research is dedicated to studying diseases that impact our community members in service of MaineHealth’s vision of working together so our communities are the healthiest in America,” said Dr. Doug Sawyer, MaineHealth Chief Academic Officer. “Tufts University School of Medicine has been a key collaborator for us in investigating causes and potential treatments for Lyme disease, and we are hopeful that this study will help get us closer to answering key questions about this increasingly common condition impacting our population.”
The study will begin enrolling patients in the spring of 2025 and will be limited to those newly diagnosed with Lyme disease so that researchers can examine the disease from its earliest stages.
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About MaineHealth
MaineHealth is a not-for-profit, integrated health system whose vision is, “Working together so our communities are the healthiest in America,” and is committed to a mission of providing high-quality affordable care, educating tomorrow's caregivers and researching better ways to provide care. MaineHealth includes a Level 1 trauma medical center, eight additional licensed hospitals, comprehensive pediatric care services, an extensive behavioral health care network, diagnostic services as well as home health, hospice and senior care services. With more than 2,000 employed providers and approximately 23,000 care team members, MaineHealth provides preventive care, diagnosis and treatment to 1.1 million residents in Maine and New Hampshire. MaineHealth hospitals include MaineHealth Behavioral Health at Spring Harbor in Westbrook, MaineHealth Franklin Hospital in Farmington, MaineHealth Lincoln Hospital in Damariscotta, MaineHealth Maine Medical Center in Portland, Biddeford and Sanford, MaineHealth Memorial Hospital in North Conway, N.H., MaineHealth Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick, MaineHealth Pen Bay Hospital in Rockport, MaineHealth Stephens Hospital in Norway and MaineHealth Waldo Hospital in Belfast. MaineHealth also includes the MaineHealth Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital in Portland, MaineHealth Care at Home in Saco, the MaineHealth Institute for Research in Scarborough, the MaineHealth Medical Group and MaineHealth NorDx in Scarborough. MaineHealth affiliates include Maine General Health in Augusta and Waterville and St. Mary's Heal System in Lewiston. It is also a significant stakeholder in the MaineHealth Accountable Care Organization in Portland and a joint venture partner in the New England Rehabilitation Hospital in Portland.