Health officials in Finland detected some 1,900 cases of borreliosis or Lyme disease in Finland last year. The infectious disease is spread by ticks and people are most often at risk during the spring and early summer. If untreated, infection can result in paralysis of facial muscles, joint pains, and severe headaches with neck stiffness or heart palpitations.
Neuroborreliosis is a neurological manifestation of Lyme disease that affects the central nervous system and can manifest in varying forms, including paralysis of facial nerves.
Diagnosing neuroborreliosis usually requires examination of cerebrospinal fluid - which requires a spinal tap procedure - and analysis currently takes anywhere from days to up to weeks and samples must be sent to a central laboratory for testing.
Now, Reagena - a small biotech company based in Siilinjärvi, eastern Finland - says it has developed a speed test that will help with a diagnosis in just 20 minutes, without sending samples to a lab for processing. The new quick processing method still requires a spinal tap, and is better suited to health care units that have the capability to take a sample of spinal fluid, making it mostly unsuitable for smaller health centres.
Faster diagnosis, speedier treatment
Jukka Hytönen, a specialist in clinical microbiology and the company’s scientific advisor, said in a release that neuroborreliosis can be extremely invasive, making speedy diagnosis even more critical.
"The faster we have a diagnosis, the sooner we can begin treatment and the faster it will work," Hytönen added.
Hytönen is a deputy professor at Turku University’s biomedical institute. His research team is expected to publish a scientific paper dealing with the effectiveness of the speed test.
The company has begun test marketing the product and is currently looking for customers in the Nordics and Central Europe. It is expecting to sign its first deals this autumn and is looking to expand sales next year.
Reagen, which has a staff of just 20, has become known as a developer of rapid tests for bacterial diseases. It already provides speed tests for Puumala virus or vole fever and tick-borne encephalitis.
The breakthrough test was first reported by daily Helsingin Sanomat.