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NCT Number: NCT03337932

Duration of Doxycycline Treatment in MEM Patients

The purpose of this study is to compare the efficacy of 7-day versus 14-day doxycycline treatment in patients with multiple erythema migrans.

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Key information

Conditions

Erythema Chronicum Migrans Bacterial Infections Bacterial Infections and Mycoses Borrelia Infections Erythema Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections Infections Lyme Disease Skin Diseases Skin Diseases, Bacterial Skin Diseases, Infectious Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases Spirochaetales Infections Tick-Borne Diseases Vector Borne Diseases

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • multiple erythema migrans

Exclusion criteria

  • pregnancy or lactation
  • immunocompromised
  • serious adverse event to doxycycline
  • taking antibiotic with antiborrelial activity within 10 days
  • extracutaneous manifestations of lyme borreliosis

Treatment and study plan

Doxycycline 100 milligram Oral Tablet bid, 7 days

Drug

Patients will receive doxycycline for 7 days.

Doxycycline 100 milligram Oral Tablet bid, 14 days

Drug

Patients will receive doxycycline for 14 days.

Controls without a history of lyme disease.

Drug

No intervention.

Primary outcomes

  1. Occurrence of objective clinical manifestations of Lyme borreliosis and post-Lyme symptoms at 14 days post-enrollment in patients treated for multiple erythema migrans with doxycycline for 7 or 14 days

    Time frame: Study point: at 14 days post-enrollment.

    At follow-up at 14 days patients will be examined physically and will be asked an open question about health-related symptoms. Symptoms that will newly develop or worsen since the onset of the multiple erythema migrans and which will have no other known medical explanation will be regarded as post-Lyme symptoms.

    Complete response to treatment will be defined as a return to pre-Lyme health status. Partial response will be defined as the presence of post-Lyme symptoms, while occurrence of new objective signs of Lyme borreliosis will be interpreted as failure.

  2. Occurrence of objective clinical manifestations of Lyme borreliosis and post-Lyme symptoms at 2 months post-enrollment in patients treated for multiple erythema migrans with doxycycline for 7 or 14 days

    Time frame: Study point: at 2 months post-enrollment.

    At follow-up at 2 months patients will be examined physically and will be asked an open question about health-related symptoms. Symptoms that will newly develop or worsen since the onset of the multiple erythema migrans and which will have no other known medical explanation will be regarded as post-Lyme symptoms.

    Complete response to treatment will be defined as a return to pre-Lyme health status. Partial response will be defined as the presence of post-Lyme symptoms, while occurrence of new objective signs of Lyme borreliosis, and/or persistence of borreliae as detected by culture of skin re-biopsy sample, and/or persistence of erythema migrans at more than 2 months post-treatment will be interpreted as failure.

  3. Occurrence of objective clinical manifestations of Lyme borreliosis and post-Lyme symptoms at 6 months post-enrollment in patients treated for multiple erythema migrans with doxycycline for 7 or 14 days

    Time frame: Study point: at 6 months post-enrollment.

    At follow-up at 6 months patients will be examined physically and will be asked an open question about health-related symptoms. Symptoms that will newly develop or worsen since the onset of the multiple erythema migrans and which will have no other known medical explanation will be regarded as post-Lyme symptoms.

    Complete response to treatment will be defined as a return to pre-Lyme health status. Partial response will be defined as the presence of post-Lyme symptoms, while occurrence of new objective signs of Lyme borreliosis, and/or persistence of borreliae as detected by culture of skin re-biopsy sample, and/or persistence of erythema migrans at more than 2 months post-treatment will be interpreted as failure.

  4. Occurrence of objective clinical manifestations of Lyme borreliosis and post-Lyme symptoms at 12 months post-enrollment in patients treated for multiple erythema migrans with doxycycline for 7 or 14 days

    Time frame: Study point: at 12 months post-enrollment.

    At 12 months patients will be examined physically and will be asked an open question about health-related symptoms. Symptoms that will newly develop or worsen since the onset of the multiple erythema migrans and which will have no other known medical explanation will be regarded as post-Lyme symptoms.

    Complete response to treatment will be defined as a return to pre-Lyme health status. Partial response will be defined as the presence of post-Lyme symptoms, while occurrence of new objective signs of Lyme borreliosis, and/or persistence of borreliae as detected by culture of skin re-biopsy sample, and/or persistence of erythema migrans at more than 2 months post-treatment will be interpreted as failure.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Change in occurrence of nonspecific symptoms from baseline to 6 months and to 12 months post-enrollment in patients with multiple erythema migrans and control subjects

    Time frame: Study points will be: at enrollment, at 6, and at 12 months post-enrollment.

    Patients will complete a written questionnaire asking whether they had had any of 8 nonspecific symptoms (fatigue, arthralgias, headache, myalgias, paresthesias, memory difficulties, concentration difficulties, irritability) within the preceding week.

    Control subjects will complete the same 8-symptom questionnaire as the patients within 14 days of the examination date of the corresponding patient at enrollment, and again at 6 and 12 months.

    Patients and controls will grade the severity of each individual symptom on a 10-cm visual analogue scale (10 = most severe).

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Daša Stupica, MD, PhD

CONTACT

[email protected]

+386 31 689 324

Maša Velušček, MD

CONTACT

[email protected]

+386 1 522 21 10

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University Medical Centre Ljubljana

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Duration of Doxycycline Treatment in Patients With Multiple Erythema Migrans (MEM). A Randomized Clinical Trial

Important dates

Study start
2018
Primary completion
2027
Study completion
2027
First posted
Nov 9, 2017
Registry last updated
Apr 29, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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