> Many researchers believe that doxycyline's inability to clear the persisters may account for the ongoing symptoms of some Lyme sufferers
"Many researchers believe" is not the language you use when you have concrete evidence supporting the claim.
To date, no one has been able to culture these supposedly persistent bacteria from a PTLSD patient. Researchers are relying on indirect evidence, with no explanation for why the spirochetes can't be found in PTLSD patients.
Not true. Not sure where you are reading that.
Lyme is difficult to culture, but it can be cultured: Scroll down to the "Culture" section: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4441761/
Regardless, my bar for evidence would be human trials in PTLDS patients with Azlocillin. Given that Azlocillin is already FDA approved and the researchers initially started studying it in 2016, I'm surprised no one has tried it yet.
That's not the same as saying this work won't help lead to that. We can all hope it does while waiting to know for sure.
I appreciate the additional info and context provided.
"According to the recent study, azlocillin shows promise because it appears to be able to kill the two morphological forms of the Lyme bacteria -- the actively replicating spiral forms and the semi-dormant round-body forms.
Azlocillin also appears to kill drug-tolerant persisters very effectively. These protective persisters form when the bacteria are threatened with defensive immune system biochemicals or antibiotics. After the threat has passed, the bacteria can reemerge to cause active disease. Many researchers believe that doxycyline's inability to clear the persisters may account for the ongoing symptoms of some Lyme sufferers."