While ticks are considered icky, they can actually spread certain threatening diseases if not properly dealt with. Finally, scientists have created a vaccine to counter tick-borne viruses including the dreaded Lyme disease.
Anti-Tick Vaccine
According to Newsweek, scientists have recently been able to develop a vaccine to counter diseases brought by ticks. This includes certain ones that could be dangerous, including Lyme disease.
The new development represents a fresh approach toward tick-borne diseases; and instead of targetting the specific bacteria or microbe-causing diseases like Lyme, the vaccine takes a more direct approach. This approach directly targets the tick's microbiota instead.
The new approach was developed in collaboration with the French National Research Institute for Agricultture, Food, and Environment along with the National Veterinary School of Alfort and the National Social Security Administration.
Newsweek reports how scientists basically use harmless bacteria to stimulate antibody production through a Trojan horse approach. The antibiotics would interact with tick microbiota to prevent bacteria colonization, leading to certain diseases including Lyme.
Dangers of Lyme Disease
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes Lyme disease as a common disease caused by the Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium. In rarer cases, it is also caused by Borrelia mayonii.
The disease happens upon transmission through an insect bite from an infected black-legged tick. As such, these diseases often lead to fever, headache, skin rash, and fatigue. The infection can be lethal if left untreated since it can spread to the nervous system, heart, or joints.
A study was conducted in France which found that 20% of ticks carried Lyme disease. The Santé publique of France reported that since 2017, there've been over 72,000 tick bites reported in the country.
The CDC reported that in the US, there were around 30,000 cases, but the actual number could be over 400,000. The researchers developed a vaccine that could rid tick-borne viruses like Lyme diseases once and for all.
Availability of Lyme Vaccines
The Harvard Gazette reports a conversation with a Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital professor of medicine, Allen Steere, with a question asked regarding why there were Lyme disease vaccines for dogs but not people.
During the interview, Steere explained how the SmithKline Beecham vaccine was already in its Phase 3 trial and how the professor of medicine was involved as a principal investigator. 10,000 people participated in the trial with half of them receiving the vaccine and the other half receiving the placebo.
However, in that investigation, they found that some people felt worse symptomatology after they received the treatment. Steere explained how this was carried out 20 to 25 years ago, which was when there wasn't much known regarding Lyme disease compared to today.
Steere then specified that the current vaccines being tested had a lot of similarities when compared to the one that was available 20 to 25 years ago, but they removed the LFA-1, which was said to cause problems in the previous vaccine.
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