A new test developed with funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has been shown to be highly accurate and sensitive for detecting antibodies to Lyme disease. Produced by Immunetics, Inc. of Cambridge, Massachusetts, the new assay recently won approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use as a diagnostic test for Lyme disease.

Results of the first randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trials testing antibiotics in patients with a stubborn form of Lyme disease-those whose symptoms persist after standard courses of antibiotics-validate that these patients suffer significant pain and other disabling symptoms. The two trials found, however, that a 90-day course of intravenous and oral antibiotics was no better than placebo at improving these chronic symptoms.