{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,28]],"date-time":"2026-08-28T13:31:39Z","timestamp":1787923899314,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]],"date-time":"2026-08-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786492800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    We evaluated the effect of nonthermal extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field (ELF-EMF) exposure on the motility of\n                    <jats:italic>Borrelia burgdorferi<\/jats:italic>\n                    , the causative agent of Lyme disease, using the Electrome BB\u2122 Protocol, a non-contact, non-ionizing system operating within regulatory safety thresholds. Cultures were exposed and assessed by dark-field microscopy for motility. ELF-EMF exposure was substantially more effective, immobilizing up to 96.8% of spirochetes under the longer-duration treatment condition, compared with 13.1% by doxycycline at 0.5\u202f\u03bcg\/mL in the same assay, a greater than sevenfold separation from this single clinically relevant antibiotic reference condition achieved entirely through a non-pharmacological, biophysical mechanism. Exact one-sided binomial tests against an established baseline motility fraction of 0.85 returned\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f10\n                    <jats:sup>\u2212120<\/jats:sup>\n                    for both conditions, with every individual longer-duration replicate independently significant at\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f4.4\u202f\u00d7\u202f10\n                    <jats:sup>\u221212<\/jats:sup>\n                    after Bonferroni correction; longer exposure produced deeper suppression than shorter exposure at the organism level (exact two-sided Fisher test,\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u202f=\u202f0.026), consistent with a duration-dependent nonthermal mechanism rather than an acute thermal or stress response. Loss of flagellar motility is functionally equivalent to organismal inactivation in tissue: non-motile\n                    <jats:italic>B. burgdorferi<\/jats:italic>\n                    cannot disseminate, evade immune surveillance, or sustain infection. Because the ELF-EMF mechanism arrests motility without inducing cell lysis, it is also expected to enable host-mediated clearance of intact, motility-arrested spirochetes without triggering the Jarisch\u2013Herxheimer reaction associated with rapid bacterial killing. A controlled murine infection model is the next test\n                    <jats:italic>in vivo<\/jats:italic>\n                    .\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmed.2026.1886935","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]],"date-time":"2026-08-12T04:41:30Z","timestamp":1786509690000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Arresting spirochetes: nonthermal extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field exposure suppresses Borrelia burgdorferi motility in vitro"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Erik A.","family":"Nilsen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Electrome Corporation","place":["Los Angeles, CA, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Heather","family":"Adkison","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Immunology, Tulane National Biomedical Research Center, Tulane University","place":["Covington, LA, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"John R.","family":"Martinez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Independent Researcher, Bioelectric Therapeutics and Electronics Design","place":["Thurmont, MD, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nevena","family":"Zubcevik","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Electrome Corporation","place":["Los Angeles, CA, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Monica E.","family":"Embers","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Immunology, Tulane National Biomedical Research Center, Tulane University","place":["Covington, LA, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"461","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(11)60103-7","article-title":"Lyme borreliosis","volume":"379","author":"Stanek","year":"2012","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"309","DOI":"10.1016\/j.idc.2015.02.012","article-title":"Posttreatment Lyme disease syndrome","volume":"29","author":"Aucott","year":"2015","journal-title":"Infect Dis Clin N Am"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e29914","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0029914","article-title":"Persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi in rhesus macaques following antibiotic treatment of disseminated infection","volume":"7","author":"Embers","year":"2012","journal-title":"PLoS 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