John Aucott, MD

Professional Titles

• Director of the Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Clinical Research Center

Primary Academic Title

Associate Professor of Medicine

Background

Centers and Institutes

Lyme Disease Clinical Research Center

Recent News Articles and Media Coverage

• The Mystery of Chronic Lyme Disease, The Wall Street Journal, July 6, 2015
• New Hopkins Center to Focus on Lyme Disease, Continuing Problems, Baltimore Sun, May 25, 2015

Lab Website

John Aucott Lab

• The Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Clinical Research Center’s current research programs are focused on the development of accurate diagnostic tests for all stages of Lyme disease.

Research Summary

Dr. John Aucott and his colleague Dr. Soloski are engaged in a multi-year longitudinal study of patients diagnosed with early-untreated Lyme disease and matched controls, the Study of Lyme disease Immunology and Clinical Events (or SLICE). This has generated a large and unique repository of clinical data and biological samples from patients with a range of clinical outcomes and collected over several seasons.  We have recently published on the immune heterogeneity of patients with Lyme disease using samples from this collection. Our goal is to utilize these samples to help identify new biomarkers of Lyme disease that will inform as to disease diagnosis, disease outcome and understand disease pathophysiology.  Dr. Aucott’s clinical research site recruits and enrolls participants with untreated early Lyme disease and erythema migrans for these studies. Participants have extensive clinical characterization pre and post-treatment. The Lyme sample biorepository will provide serum samples from this collection for the proposed studies and the clinical study team will as aid in the analysis and interpretation of results.

Research Support

Study of Lyme Disease Immunology and Clinical Events (SLICE) 

(Soloski, M.J., Aucott, J.N. Co-PI) 12/14/08- ongoing

Lyme Disease Research Foundation of Maryland

Multi-year, prospective, longitudinal study analyzing patients with early untreated Lyme disease and characterizing clinical status before and after treatment. Clinical parameters are measured using validated symptoms surveys of fatigue, pain, and health care quality of life. Blood samples are collected for analysis of multi-parameter flow cytometry to determine if the levels and/or phenotype of immune lymphocytes change in peripheral blood during the course of Lyme disease. In addition, a biorepository of serum, DNA, and peripheral blood lymphocytes is stored for future analysis. We predict that such studies will be relevant to identifying new biomarkers for disease progression and provide insights into the mechanisms involved in the varying pathophysiologies that arise following B. burgdorferi infection.

Analysis of Health Care Insurance Claims for Lyme Disease   

(Weiner, J., Aucott, J.N., Co-PI) 10/20/11-ongoing

Lyme Disease Research Foundation of Maryland

This study examines the costs and magnitude of care associated with Lyme disease across the United States by examining health insurance claims data from over 47 million individuals across the United States

United States School of Public Health Faculty Experiences and Opinions regarding Lyme Disease

(Aucott, J.N., PI) 03/20/12-ongoing

Lyme Disease Research Foundation of Maryland

This study is a web-based survey of Lyme disease opinions of School of Public Health Faculty in the United States. This survey of over 9,000 full-time faculty members explores attitudes of this select group of individuals about acute Lyme disease, Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome and their impact on public health.

Evaluation of Internet-Based Educational Instrument for Identification of Erythema Migrans Rash of Lyme Disease

(Aucott, J.N., PI) 05/04/12- ongoing

Lyme Disease Research Foundation of Maryland

This study is being conducted to assess the knowledge of individuals seeking information about Lyme disease on the Internet and their ability to correctly identify the typical and non-classic manifestations of Erythema Migrans.

Qualitative interviews of individuals with Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome

(Leonard, L., PI/Aucott, J.N. co-Investigator) 06/15/12-ongoing

Lyme Disease Research Foundation of Maryland

This study interviews individuals with Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome using a rigorous protocol and analysis to document the symptoms and experience of this disease.

Completed Research Projects

Diagnostic Challenges of Early Lyme Disease

(Aucott, J.N., PI)     12/14/08-06/15/11

This was a series of retrospective studies using clinical case records from evaluations of clinical characteristics of patients presenting to my Lyme disease referral clinic.  This analysis demonstrated the difficulty with diagnosis experienced by practicing physicians.  High rates of misdiagnosis and unexpected diagnoses of Lyme disease were documented.

Characterization of Adult Lyme Disease in Maryland 

(Dumler J.S., P.I./Aucott J.N., Co-Investigator) 01/01/01-01/01/03

We performed a two-year evaluation of Borrelia burgdorferi culture and supplemental tests for definitive diagnosis of Lyme disease. Clinical evaluations of patients were performed before applying high-volume blood cultures, skin biopsy for culture and PCR, and serodiagnosis to a cohort of patients with suspected Lyme disease. The study was performed to confirm the relative utility of culture and to compare laboratory testing algorithms to the clinician-based diagnosis of Lyme disease.

PubMed

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=John%20Aucott%5BAuthor%5D

Selected Publications

• Alghaferi MY, Anderson JM, Park J, Auwaerter PG, Aucott JN, Norris DE, Dumler JS. Borrelia burgdorferi Heterogeneity among human and murine isolates from a defined region of northern Maryland and southern Pennsylvania: Lack of correlation with invasive and noninvasive genotypes. J Clin Micro 2005 v43, No 4: 1879-1884.

• Aucott J, Morrison C, Munoz B, Rowe PC, Schwarzwalder A, West SK. (2009) Diagnostic challenges of early Lyme disease: Lessons from a community case series. BMC Infectious Diseases 9:79.

• Aucott JN, Crowder L, Kortte KB. Development of a Foundation for a case definition of Post- treatment Lyme disease Syndrome. International Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2013; 17 (6) e443 - e449.

• Aucott JN, Crowder LA, Yedlin V, Kortte KB. Bull's-Eye and Nontarget Skin Lesions of Lyme Disease: An Internet Survey of Identification of Erythema Migrans. Dermatol Res Pract. V 2012. P 1-6. doi: 10.1155/2012/451727.

• Aucott JN, Rebman AW, Crowder LA, Kortte KB. Post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome symptomatology and the impact on life functioning: is there something here? Qual Life Res (2012) DOI 10.1007/s11136-012-0126-6

• Aucott JN, Seifter A, Rebman A. Probable late Lyme disease: a variant manifestation of untreated Borrelia burgdorferi infection. BMC Infectious Diseases 2012;12 (1) 173

• Auwaerter, P.G, Aucott, J., & Dumler J.S. (2005). Lyme borreliosis (Lyme disease): molecular and cellular pathobiology and prospects for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Expert Reviews in Molecular Medicine, 6(2), 1-22.

• Coulter P, Lema C, Flayhart D, Linhardt AS, Aucott JN,  Auwaerter PG, Dumler JS. Two-year Evaluation of Borrelia burgdorferi culture and supplemental tests for definitive diagnosis of Lyme Disease. J Clin Micro 2005 v43, No 10: 5080-5084.

• Eshoo MW, Crowder CC, Rebman AW, Rounds MA, Matthews HE, Picuri JM, Soloski MJ, Ecker DJ,    Schutzer SE, Aucott JN. Direct Molecular Detection and Genotyping of Borrelia burgdorferi from Whole Blood of Patients with Early Lyme Disease. (2012) PLoS ONE 7(5): e36825. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0036825 PMC3348129

• Morrison, C. Seifter, A., &  Aucott, J.N. (2009). Unusual Presentation of Early Disseminated Lyme Disease: Horner’s Syndrome and Atypical Rash with Negative Serology. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. 22 (2), 219-222.

• Schutzer SE, Berger BW, Krueger J, Eshoo MW, Ecker DJ, and Aucott JN. Atypical Erythema Migrans in Patients with PCR-Positive Lyme Disease. Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 19, No. 5, May 2013

• Soloski, M. J., Crowder, L. A., Lahey, L. J., Wagner, C. A., Robinson, W. H., Aucott, J. N. (2014)  Serum Inflammatory Mediators as Markers of Human Lyme Disease Activity. PLOSOne- in press

Honors

• The Warfield T. Longcope Prize in Clinical Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
• Elton Hoyt III Award for Excellence in Research carried out by a House Officer (1987) and Fellow (1988), University Hospitals of Cleveland
• Ambulatory Teacher of the Year, Internal Medicine Residency Training Program, University Hospitals of Cleveland/Cleveland VAMC
• Phi Beta Kappa
• Alpha Omega Alpha
• Discovery Fund Synergy Award, Johns Hopkins, 1/1/14

Memberships

• Thayer Firm Faculty, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD
• Director, Lyme Disease Research Foundation of Maryland, Baltimore, MD