New CAPMM Study Explores Link Between Long COVID and Lyme Disease
For many patients, recovery from an infection does not always mean a return to health. Long COVID and Post Treatment Lyme disease can leave people struggling with debilitating fatigue, cognitive impairment, chronic pain, and other symptoms that dramatically affect quality of life. Despite growing awareness of both conditions, researchers still do not fully understand why some individuals remain ill long after the acute infection has passed.
A project led by George Mason University School of Systems Biology Professor Alessandra Luchini aims to shed light on this question by investigating whether long COVID and chronic Lyme disease share underlying biological mechanisms. Supported by the PolyBio Research Foundation and conducted in collaboration with Mount Sinai, the one-year study will examine a key question in infection-associated chronic illness research: Can pathogens that remained dormant after a previous tick-borne or vector-borne infection become reactivated following COVID-19 infection, contributing to symptoms currently diagnosed as Long COVID?
“Both conditions share many of the same symptoms,” Luchini said. “Patients may experience extreme fatigue, brain fog, musculoskeletal pain, sleep disturbances, and dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system.”
Scientists have proposed several possible explanations for these persistent symptoms after an acute infection. Recent studies suggest that some long COVID patients experience reactivation of previously dormant viruses, including members of the herpesvirus family. Luchini's team is investigating whether a similar process could occur with tick-borne and vector-borne pathogens, potentially contributing to persistent symptoms in some long COVID patients.
At the heart of the study is a diagnostic approach developed at George Mason that looks for molecular signatures of Lyme disease in urine samples. While blood is the standard testing medium for many diseases, urine offers a unique advantage: it collects and concentrates molecular byproducts filtered from the bloodstream, potentially making it easier to detect hard-to-find biomarkers. The George Mason team has spent years developing and refining urine-based tests for Lyme disease and other infectious diseases, including tuberculosis and Chagas disease.
To test this possibility, Luchini and her team will analyze urine samples from Long COVID patients for extracellular vesicles (EVs) produced by Borrelia, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, as well as proteins associated with other tick-borne and vector-borne pathogens. Detecting these biological markers could provide evidence that previously dormant infections have become active again.
“This is ultimately about moving from broad, qualitative symptom descriptions to measurable biology,” says Luchini. Instead of treating long COVID as a single condition, Luchini added that she hopes to identify more homogeneous patient groups based on objective molecular markers. Such markers could eventually help physicians tailor treatments and monitor whether therapies are working.
The project brings together researchers, clinicians, students, and patient advocates in a collaborative effort to better understand two complex chronic conditions. Among the team members contributing to the work is George Mason PhD graduate Ahana Byne, whose recent research helped advance more affordable and accurate tuberculosis diagnostics. Building on George Mason's expertise in developing innovative diagnostic technologies, Byne is helping apply similar approaches to the search for biological markers that could improve understanding of long COVID and chronic Lyme disease.
Although public attention has shifted away from the pandemic, long COVID remains a significant health concern. New cases continue to emerge following COVID-19 infections, and researchers are still working to understand the factors that place some people at greater risk for developing long-term symptoms.
Luchini emphasizes that the work is a collaborative effort involving researchers, clinicians, students, and patient advocates. Through partnerships with PolyBio, Mount Sinai’s clinical network, and the broader George Mason research community, the team hopes to generate findings that bring greater clarity to two of the most complex and challenging conditions in modern medicine.
