Common Antibiotic Fights Lyme Disease Without Wrecking Your Gut Health

Deer ticks, like the one photographed, can carry Lyme disease/ (KPixMining/Shutterstock) In a nutshell * The antibiotic piperacillin has shown remarkable effectiveness against Lyme disease-causing bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, at doses 100 times lower than doxycycline, the current standard treatment. * Unlike doxycycline, which affects beneficial gut bacteria, piperacillin targets only the Lyme bacteria without disrupting the microbiome, making it a safer option, especially for children and pregnant women. * The discovery opens the door for piperacillin to be repurposed as a highly effective treatment for Lyme disease, potentially even as a single-dose preventive therapy after a tick bite. Further research...