Combined antibiotics may be superior to antibiotic monotherapy in patients with Lyme disease, according to a novel study published by Alruwaili et al in Frontiers in Microbiology. Researchers explained that although most cases of Lyme disease can be treated with oral antibiotics, up to 20% of cases result in chronic symptoms triggered by persistent Lyme disease–causing Borrelia burgdorferi infections. In the new study, the researchers used cultures, xenodiagnoses, and molecular techniques to examine the efficacy of a group of U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved antibiotics as combination therapies or monotherapy in mice infected with Borrelia burgdorferi. The researchers found that although none of the monotherapies were effective at eradicating the infections, four dual and three triplet combinations—doxycycline/ceftriaxone, dapsone/rifampicin, dapsone/clofazimine, doxycycline/cefotaxime, doxycycline/ceftriaxone/carbomycin, doxycycline/cefotaxime/loratadine, and dapsone/rifampicin/clofazimine—were capable of eliminating the bacteria. In a companion press release on the findings from Tulane University, the study authors concluded: “This finding could be a game-changer in how we approach this complex and often debilitating disease.”