Research at risk: Better testing for tick-borne diseases

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Laura Goodman was close to finalizing a prototype of a new test that can detect any tick-borne disease. Unlike some current tests, it could provide results even before symptoms occur – and even for unknown diseases.

That’s important, because ticks around the world can potentially transmit hundreds of disease agents, some of them not yet known, and they account for at least two-thirds of vector-borne disease in the U.S. When comparing confirmed diagnoses with insurance claims, it is estimated that there are 10 times more people infected than what available diagnostics show, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

But in April, Goodman, Ph.D. ’07, an assistant professor in the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health and in the Baker Institute for Animal Health in the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM), received a stop-work order. It brought to a halt the research the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) had asked her to do, via a nearly $900,000 three-year IDEA grant it awarded her in 2022.

“It’s a huge impact on my ability to advance this work, which is only just at the beginning,” she said.

Current diagnostic tests for Lyme and related diseases rely on identifying antibodies in the blood and require an immune response in the patient. Tests for other diseases require entirely different diagnostic approaches that are often run at different labs.

“The big problem with Lyme testing is that your body takes a few weeks to develop an immune response, and by the time it kicks in, when a person would be positive on a test, you’re starting to get out of the ideal treatment window, ” Goodman said. When treated late, chronic conditions can take root, she said. Focusing just on Lyme testing may also miss one of the other diseases that could have been transmitted by the same tick.

Goodman describes her prototype as a “recipe,” a protocol that uses common equipment many hospitals already possess. Accurate and early detection of parasites, microbes and viruses transmitted by ticks could allow clinicians to be more certain a treatment fits the ailment. Researchers may also discover new diseases and determine therapies for them.

The DOD is one of the biggest funders of diagnostic development for tick-borne diseases, because military personnel (and their working dogs) globally are at very high risk for tick bites. Children, people who work outdoors, pets and livestock are too.

Goodman and colleagues just completed field testing the prototype on samples from wild animals, which are exposed to many tick-borne diseases. Early results show promise for detecting multiple disease agents and revealing new pathogens. By sequencing and analyzing many pathogen genomes at once, the test has proven flexible enough for any tick-borne disease, unlike current tests that are specialized for specific pathogens. And the new test works on the ticks themselves too, revealing what diseases they may carry for public health surveillance.

Goodman employs 10 people in her lab, mostly through research grants, including three whose positions were supported by the DOD grant and whose positions are now at risk.

“Our goal is to make it accessible around the world with basic medical testing equipment that is affordable,” Goodman said. “Having it stopped right at this stage is quite perilous for the technology and will count against us when applying for funding to move it forward.”

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