One of the most frustrating puzzles of Lyme disease is why some people develop debilitating chronic complications despite receiving recommended treatment. Now scientists have developed a new method to explore if these arthritic and neurologic symptoms result from the body's immune system turning against itself.

Yale and state scientists have developed a new, simpler and more reliable blood test to detect a recently discovered disease called ehrlichiosis, which is carried by deer ticks. The test will make it less cumbersome for patients with the telltale flu-like symptoms to be screened for the disease. It also will allow researchers to determine whether ehrlichiosis may be as widespread as Lyme Disease in the Northeast.

Researchers have discovered a new form of a tick-borne disease that can be fatal in humans. This finding provides more insight into ehrlichiosis, first identified in humans in the United States in 1986.