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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Detecting the Lyme Disease Spirochete, Borrelia Burgdorferi, in Ticks Using Nested PCR
Published on: February 4, 2018
Alzheimer's disease may not be a spirochetosis
R McLaughlin1, N M Kin, M F Chen
1Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Abstract:
It has been reported previously that spirochetes could be one of the causes of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, we have attempted to reproduce these findings by examining fresh blood samples from 22 patients diagnosed with early stage (n = 16) and late stage (n = 6) AD. The patients were participants in a clinical drug trial. Fresh necropsy brain cortical specimens from AD patients (n = 7) were also examined. Spirochetes were observed microscopically in the blood of only one late-stage AD patient. None of the brain tissues showed the presence of spirochetes. Our results suggest that spirochetes are probably not associated with AD.
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