The bacteria that cause Lyme disease can change from long spiral cork-screw shapes into sesame seed shapes and they do this to hide out when attacked or stressed. Here are some notes on Borrelia cyst formation you may find of interest.
- The bacteria can form protective cyst forms and survive for an extended period in various tissues, making it difficult to fully eradicate the bacteria and leading to chronic Lyme disease in some cases.
- Certain antibiotics commonly used to treat Lyme disease, such as doxycycline, may suppress the active form of Borrelia without killing the bacteria inside cysts.
- Doxycycline, the antibiotic most frequently used to treat Lyme bacteria, may chemically trigger the bacteria to form cysts.
- Cysts can form when the bacteria are deprived of essential nutrients. This can occur when Borrelia transitions from the tick vector to the host, as the nutrient availability changes.
- Environmental stress factors, including temperature fluctuations, can induce the formation of cysts. The bacteria adapt to stressful conditions by encapsulating themselves within cysts.
- There is currently no known completely effective treatment for killing Borrelia cysts in vivo.
- Borrelia burgdorferi cysts have been shown to remain viable in controlled laboratory conditions for several weeks to several months.
