Brandon L. Jutras

Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Key takeaways: Findings show changes in the cell wall of Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria during Lyme disease infection. Results have implications for patients who go on to develop Lyme arthritis. The chemical structure of the Borrelia burgdorferi cell wall may dictate the frequency and severity of Lyme arthritis, a finding that could have implications for future treatment, according to data published in PloS Pathogens.

Last week, UVA School of Medicine researchers reported what appears to be the first clearly documented fatality from alpha‑gal syndrome, a rare allergy to red meat linked to bites from certain ticks, primarily the lone star tick in the U.S. The case involved a healthy 47-year-old pilot in New Jersey who died after eating a hamburger in 2024; the outcome was documented in a case study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice.

Cross-species communication drives the coordination of diverse biological processes in complex systems. Rana et al. discovered that Ixodes scapularis, the tick vector of Lyme disease, produces a receptor that binds host interferon-gamma (IFNγ) in the blood meal, which orchestrates tick development, immunity, and vector competence.