LDA: In Memory of Pioneer Lyme Researcher

Dr. Margret H. Bayer, a researcher whose early work with her husband, Dr. Manfred Bayer, on Lyme disease PCR, is still cited today, died on May 12. The Drs. Bayer received funding from the LDA for their groundbreaking research which resulted in the often cited publication in Infection 24 (1996) (abstract below). Her contribution to Lyme research with that project and others that followed showed her dedication to helping provide Lyme patients with answers as to why they continue to be sick despite treatment for the disease. It is sad to lose someone with her talent and dedication and we send our condolences to her husband, Dr. Manfred Bayer, and to her entire family for their loss.

Margret Bayer (obituary)

Groundbreaking research publication
Infection 1996: Borrelia burgdorferi DNA in the Urine of Treated Patients with Chronic Lyme Disease Symptoms: A PCR Study of 97 Cases, Bayer ME, Zhang L, Bayer MH. Author affiliation Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA 19111, USA

Abstract
The presence of Borrelia burgdorferi DNA was established by PCR from urine samples of 97 patients clinically diagnosed as presenting with symptoms of chronic Lyme disease. All patients had shown erythema chronica migrans following a deer tick bite. Most of the patients had been antibiotic-treated for extended periods of time. We used three sets of primer pairs with DNA sequences for the gene coding of outer surface protein A (OspA) and of a genomic sequence of B. burgdorferi to study samples of physician-referred patients from the mideastern USA. Controls from 62 healthy volunteers of the same geographic areas were routinely carried through the procedures in parallel with patients’ samples. Of the 97 patients, 72 (74.2%) were found with positive PCR and the rest with negative PCR. The 62 healthy volunteers were PCR negative. It is proposed that a sizeable group of patients diagnosed on clinical grounds as having chronic Lyme disease may still excrete Borrelia DNA, and may do so in spite of intensive antibiotic treatment.