For years, Vineyard doctors have been prescribing doxycycline to deal with Lyme disease caused by the Island’s growing tick population. Now, researchers from Northwestern University are wondering if there is a better way to treat the disease. 

In a new study released this spring, the team of scientists led by Brandon Jutras have found that another antibiotic can cure Lyme at a fraction of the dosage of doxycycline treatment — leaving out the typical adverse side effects from the existing gold standard. 

After screening nearly 500 FDA-approved compounds, the researchers determined that piperacillin, an antibiotic in the penicillin family, cured mice infected with Lyme disease at a dosage 100-fold lower than doxycycline.

“Piperacillin just proved to be so good that we are actively working to try and get a clinical trial established for it,” Mr. Jutras said in an interview with the Gazette this week. 

Ticks spread Lyme after feeding on infected animals, such as deer. — Ray Ewing

Though the research still faces years of rigorous testing before it can be proved safe and effective for humans, Islanders were intrigued by the idea of an alternative to doxycycline. Vineyard residents face an increasing number of ticks and tick-related maladies, and Dukes County has the highest rate of Lyme disease in the country. 

“The research on the mice looks promising,” said Dr. Gerry Yukevich, a doctor at the revamped Martha’s Vineyard Medical practice in Vineyard Haven. 

Lyme disease, which is notoriously hard to diagnose, is spread by ticks that feed on infected mammals and later bite humans. The disease causes fever, headaches and a trademark bullseye rash. If left untreated, it can spread to the joints, the heart and the nervous system.

The bacteria that causes Lyme is what makes the disease so confounding, according to Mr. Jutras, a bacteriologist that has been studying the disease for years and has visited the Vineyard.

“The way the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, the way that it grows... is fundamentally different from virtually all other bacteria,” he said. 

While others are just constantly expanding, the Lyme bacteria grows in more discreet “zones,” according to Mr. Jutras, making it difficult to stop. 

“We had a good way to basically screen drugs, looking for drugs that interfered with this different process,” he said. 

Piperacillin is often part of a cocktail used to kill bacteria for various diseases, and is an ingredient in the brand name drug Zosyn.

Dr. Yukevich said that piperacillin is often used to treat serious infections in hospitalized patients and is usually administered by injections, making it less convenient than doxycycline, which is given by tablets or capsules. 

What was exciting about the research for the Northwestern team was the need for such a small dosage when compared to doxycycline. Doxycycline, which was first used in the 1960s and has since become one of the most prescribed antibiotics in the world, kills a wide variety of bacteria, but in doing so can cause people to have stomach issues, among other things.

“The change in enteric bacteria from doxycycline, alas, can result in patients having bad intestinal problems,” Dr. Yukevich said. “So, if they can make piperacillin available cheaply and as a pill, maybe we can move ahead in treatment and prevention.”

Doxycycline also doesn’t work in some cases, though it’s unclear if piperacillin would fare any better without clinical trials. 

“We’re not trying to cure mice, we’re trying to cure humans,” Mr. Jutras said. “So the next steps are to really assess this in a clinical trial and put it up against doxycycline.”

That may be harder under the current federal administration, which has made cuts to the National Institutes of Health — the agency that supports research. 

For now, though, Islanders have some optimism while doxycycline continues to be the standard treatment. 

“I know doxy isn’t perfect,” said Patrick Roden-Reynolds, the Island’s tick biologist. “It will be interesting to see how that develops.”