Major Test of First Possible Lyme Vaccine In 20 Years Begins (apnews.com) 58
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Associated Press: Researchers are seeking thousands of volunteers in the U.S. and Europe to test the first potential vaccine against Lyme disease in 20 years -- in hopes of better fighting the tick-borne threat. Lyme is a growing problem, with cases rising and warming weather helping ticks expand their habitat. While a vaccine for dogs has long been available, the only Lyme vaccine for humans was pulled off the U.S. market in 2002 from lack of demand, leaving people to rely on bug spray and tick checks. Now Pfizer and French biotech Valneva are aiming to avoid previous pitfalls in developing a new vaccine to protect both adults and kids as young as 5 from the most common Lyme strains on two continents.
Most vaccines against other diseases work after people are exposed to a germ. The Lyme vaccine offers a different strategy -- working a step earlier to block a tick bite from transmitting the infection, said Dr. Gary Wormser, a Lyme expert at New York Medical College who isn't involved with the new research. How? It targets an "outer surface protein" of the Lyme bacterium called OspA that's present in the tick's gut. It's estimated a tick must feed on someone for about 36 hours before the bacteria spreads to its victim. That delay gives time for antibodies the tick ingests from a vaccinated person's blood to attack the germs right at the source.
In small, early-stage studies, Pfizer and Valneva reported no safety problems and a good immune response. The newest study will test if the vaccine, called VLA15, really protects and is safe. The companies aim to recruit at least 6,000 people in Lyme-prone areas including the Northeast U.S. plus Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden. They'll receive three shots, either the vaccine or a placebo, between now and next spring's tick season. A year later, they'll get a single booster dose.
Most vaccines against other diseases work after people are exposed to a germ. The Lyme vaccine offers a different strategy -- working a step earlier to block a tick bite from transmitting the infection, said Dr. Gary Wormser, a Lyme expert at New York Medical College who isn't involved with the new research. How? It targets an "outer surface protein" of the Lyme bacterium called OspA that's present in the tick's gut. It's estimated a tick must feed on someone for about 36 hours before the bacteria spreads to its victim. That delay gives time for antibodies the tick ingests from a vaccinated person's blood to attack the germs right at the source.
In small, early-stage studies, Pfizer and Valneva reported no safety problems and a good immune response. The newest study will test if the vaccine, called VLA15, really protects and is safe. The companies aim to recruit at least 6,000 people in Lyme-prone areas including the Northeast U.S. plus Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden. They'll receive three shots, either the vaccine or a placebo, between now and next spring's tick season. A year later, they'll get a single booster dose.
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It's estimated a tick must feed on someone for about 36 hours before the bacteria spreads to its victim.
I have had Lyme. I got it on a day hike in North Carolina. I spotted a tick crawling on me that wasn't latched on and squished it. Checked that night, in the shower, and the following day for any more ticks. I had no bullseye rash. But magically I got the symptoms months later. Saw a specialist, and she said this kind of thing happens all the time. The whole 36 hour assumpti
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So there is zero possibility that you got a tick bite another time? How do you know that?
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This was my first thought. Ticks are, by design, supposed to be fairly stealthy. Not all bites become apparent. I'm not sure if there is a peer reviewed study on the 36 hour rule of thumb, which is not likely an absolute. But anecdotes are not counter-evidence.
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He probably missed one, first instar of NE deer tick are about this big: .
You will miss them. Doing tick checks are important, but good luck finding some of the smaller guys.
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You could have read the summary. The idea is that your antibodies attack the bacteria as it is feeding on you. But it is a bad premise.
It's estimated a tick must feed on someone for about 36 hours before the bacteria spreads to its victim.
I have had Lyme. I got it on a day hike in North Carolina. I spotted a tick crawling on me that wasn't latched on and squished it. Checked that night, in the shower, and the following day for any more ticks. I had no bullseye rash. But magically I got the symptoms months later. Saw a specialist, and she said this kind of thing happens all the time. The whole 36 hour assumption is pseudoscience and means the basis for this vaccine might be a non starter. They really need to make doxy OTC. Pop a tablet every day for your hike, and stop the disease before it starts. Once it's in your joints, it's there forever.
I managed to contract Lyme, and I surely wish I had managed to get a vaccine. I didn't get the Bullseye rash, but cellulitis. It isn't clear whether It has done joint damage, as the knee and ankle joints that are annoying now were the sites of sports injuries.
But you don't want it, and I wouldn't mind if ticks were made extinct. Here in PA, you can get nailed by them all year round now. Was there ever any follow in to the stevia research? They actually killed the biofilm produced by the bacteria with s
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I was diagnosed with Lyme in early March, the chances are that the tick got me in October although it may have been before that. It the moment the damage appears to have been fairly minor but I'll have another blood test done before accepting that it is completely over.
A male friend of mine had it a couple of years back and it made a comeback 3 or 4 times before finally giving up. Several female neighbours and friends have also been infected, in their cases it was driven out first time. That's why I'm go
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I was diagnosed with Lyme in early March, the chances are that the tick got me in October although it may have been before that. It the moment the damage appears to have been fairly minor but I'll have another blood test done before accepting that it is completely over. A male friend of mine had it a couple of years back and it made a comeback 3 or 4 times before finally giving up. Several female neighbours and friends have also been infected, in their cases it was driven out first time. That's why I'm going to have another test in a month or two.
Good luck! I appear to have been semi lucky, others not so much.
Someone - I think in here - noted that ticks and Lyme are proof that God hates us. They made a pretty good case.
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The kind that exposes your immune system to chemical aspects to the pathogen, so it will respond faster when it detects such pathogens.
A lot of the symptoms we get from an illness, isn't actually the damage the pathogen is doing, but from our immune system trying to get rid of it. Feeling bad is a evolutionary response to force us to conserve energy, rest, and try to drink more fluids while the body uses the extra energy to fight the infection.
I would rather feel a bit down for a few days, vs suffering the
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Naw. The anti-vaxxers would rather the suffer the effects of long term covid or even die rather than do one simple, free thing to either prevent or substantially lesson any possible infection. Do you really think they care about suffering the rest of their life if they get Lyme disease? After all, it's only a tick bite. It's no worse than a flea bite because as we all know flea bites a
Great news (Score:3)
Seems like ticks are spreading more and more, and I live in a tick infested area (border area between Canada(Quebec) and USA(Vermont, New York), however I've yet to see one, my neighbours seems to see them almost everyday... (I got the feeling he doesn't know what a tick looks like).
And Lyme disease seems pretty nasty with so many possible symptoms and ailments.... I'll be one of the first inline if this trial works out well.
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I also live in a tick hotspot
I see them daily on my walks through forest trails.
I can easily identify the adult ticks with their red colouring.
So far, I've removed 3 juvenile ticks from my body using special tweezers, so I keep vigilant.
A friend of mine thinks I'm "overly paranoid" since he's not seen any ticks.
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Or you just don't spend as much time where the ticks live.
I'm in a tick-prone area. I don't have to worry about them in more open, maintained areas where the grass is cut regularly. But I have one overgrown part of my property where I'm practically guaranteed to pick up ticks if I spend any time there while the ground isn't frozen.
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A former colleague in NJ lived on such a property, and Lyme likely contributed to his premature death. There is a coastal hike that I used to do frequently. The area has coyote, bobcat, and deer, and is mostly scrub brush. The area had brush abatement a few years ago, and after that, I picked up ticks on every hike. Fortunately, compression thermal lowers and uppers with close fitting cuffs kept the ticks mostly outside the cuff line, except near the neck. I stopped hiking use trails and deer paths there.
Apparently a person's legs can be protected by wearing Panty hose. I haven't tried that yet, but I bet I'll look fabulous.
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Ticks are pretty nasty too. Nearly all spiders have the decency to run the hell away from humans, but ticks actively hunt you. And they like to crawl right up in to the most personal parts of your body.
Ticks are very compelling evidence that The Creator hates us.
Re:Great news (Score:5, Informative)
Well I am sure I am going to open a can of worms with this, but that is an effect from Global Climate Change.
As areas like southern Canada and Northern United States, are having shorter milder winters. That means that Ticks in greater numbers will survive the winter, reproduce more offspring, often travel further north.
Being that we live in a time where Mild winters are more common than Cold ones gives Ticks a higher chance of surviving and spreading.
The North East of the United States from Late November/Early December - End of March/Early April would be consistently covered in snow. With perhaps a January Thaw. Now we will start getting real snow Late December, we still get the January Thaw, and the snow is melted in February. Then in March a snowstorm will put snow on the ground for a few weeks then it is melted away.
For a Tick, this allows a much more survivable condition.
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Well I am sure I am going to open a can of worms with this, but that is an effect from Global Climate Change. As areas like southern Canada and Northern United States, are having shorter milder winters. That means that Ticks in greater numbers will survive the winter, reproduce more offspring, often travel further north.
That's exactly correct. Let's say that There is no such thing as GW. It's just hotter all year round now. Maybe God is lighting his farts or something.
But I caught a tick on a hike in early January a few years back - here in PA, they are a problem just about year round now, the only times they aren't a problem is the increasingly rare snowstorms.
We need more possums to eat the ticks! (Score:2)
And what to eat the possums?
Wonder if raccoons eat ticks too? They seem a little prissy with their "wash my dirty hands in this water bowl before eating" thing.
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I'll be one of the first inline if this trial works out well.
That's because you're in the pocket of big pharma. Sensible people get medical advice from politicians. /s
I actually wonder how much the COVID insanity of the past few years has impacted people's willingness to get vaccinated. I'm going overseas shortly and got a hepatitis vaccine on Monday. Raised this with the doctor and the feedback was that there has been a significant reduction in people accepting recommendations for "recommended but optional" vaccines when travelling vs the mandatory ones.
Mind you I s
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In NYC at least there's a chance polio is back, not in pog form though.
New York polio case is the ‘tip of the iceberg,’ hundreds of others could be infected, health official says [cnbc.com]
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London (England!) is also taking precautions, although the case there started from someone who had been recently vaccinated against Polio in India/Pakistan or Nigeria. They use a different vaccine there and occasionally it wakes up and is passed on to others who have not necessarily been vaccinated at all.
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Mind you I still see graffiti with "stop the vaccine agenda" all over the place. I'm worried that idiots are taking over the messaging.
Take solace in that they will likely enjoy a higher death rate. I've long ago come to the conclusion that thier premature deaths will improve the human race.
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Take solace in that they will likely enjoy a higher death rate.
I do. But I'm concerned for people who a) genuinely can't get vaccinated, and b) that these people become a massive burden on the health system in the process.
Just like with COVID. It's schadenfreude to see unvaccinated people occupying hospital beds, but not so fun to hear that elective surgery is delayed because insufficient hospital beds were available.
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Take solace in that they will likely enjoy a higher death rate.
I do. But I'm concerned for people who a) genuinely can't get vaccinated, and b) that these people become a massive burden on the health system in the process.
Just like with COVID. It's schadenfreude to see unvaccinated people occupying hospital beds, but not so fun to hear that elective surgery is delayed because insufficient hospital beds were available.
Surely. The wife had a shoulder surgery delayed over a year for the assholes.
I look at the politically unvaccinated as a fifth column operating in the USA. The purposely unvaccinated are as much as an enemy to me as the Axis powers were in WW2. I understand that they are basically kamikazi.
Whenever I hear of one dying of covid, I look at it as a tiny victory. When I hear of an innocent's death, I find it saddening, but it increases my joy when a Ivermectin or pee swiller meets their end.
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I actually wonder how much the COVID insanity of the past few years has impacted people's willingness to get vaccinated.
Given how many vaccinated people went through a mild cold-like infection (from mostly one of the later variants) after having been over-promised time and again how their vaccinations would protect them from infection, from symptomatic disease (and from becoming infectious themselves), you can bet that many of those will assume the advertisements of other vaccines are exaggerated as well.
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went through a mild cold-like infection (from mostly one of the later variants) after having been over-promised time and again how their vaccinations would protect them from infection
They were protected. You said it yourself, mild cold-like infection... from a virus that was putting people in hospital at rates the system was unable to cope with.
For the record there are still over 1000 hospital beds in my tiny country, and 85% of those are from people who are unvaccinated.
If someone "promised" you that a vaccine is 100% effective, and prevents you from getting the virus then I suggest you never speak to that person again. No seriously just don't ever watch Fox News. It's not healthy for
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Ticks are out in usual force in central Midwest US (St. Louis area). In 2022 I've had 3 runners (yet to attach, on skin) and 2 attached biters (bite time in low hours).
I think I may sign up for the trial, I see a dozen ticks on me annually, with a few attaching for a short period of time.
This is because I go camping a lot (I realized last week that this is true of me about 50% of the time: "I slept in a tent last Saturday night.").
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I know it sounds weird. There's an anti-tick pesticide you can buy. It's a package containing what looks like I think a dozen toilet paper roll cores. They're printed a cammo color and inside they have I think it's treated cotton. The idea is mice will find those rolls with cotton and take the cotton to build in their nests. It'll kill the ticks on the mice. I had a problem and so did many of my rentals. So last fall I put them out. I just threw them shortly after things stopped falling. This year I have no
But vaccines are the devil's tools! (Score:1, Troll)
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But vaccines are the devil's tools! I've been told so!
Can't wait to see the Conspiracy Theory Meltdown on this one. Which will be worse: evil vaccines, or evil Big Medicine that doesn't acknowledge that Lyme Disease is the cause of every ailment known to man?
Vaccinating... the tick? (Score:2)
So, I'm by no means an expert... but it seems to me that the article just described the method of this particular vaccine as: using human carriers as a vehicle to deliver a substance to feeding ticks that makes the gut bacteria of those ticks less prone to Lyme disease. Does this mean that those ticks also end up becoming more healthy, in the long run? And thereby, more numerous?
I feel like there are looooots of questions to be raised, here.
Re:Vaccinating... the tick? (Score:5, Informative)
Does this mean that those ticks also end up becoming more healthy, in the long run? And thereby, more numerous?
nope [livescience.com]
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I think that really depends if there is a true beneficial or negative relationship between the tick and the bacteria. If the bacteria is just a free rider in the tick's gut or even beneficial to it in some way then this vaccine will help reduce populations. I have to think if the bacteria was a net negative to the ticks they would have maybe evolved some defense against it or it would encourage tick populations to breed ticks without it?
I also feel like people tend to kill the ticks when they are found on
More history (Score:5, Informative)
NH Public Radio did a whole podcast series on Lyme disease [patientzeropodcast.com]. One of their bonus episodes discusses the history of LYMErix in more detail (transcript [patientzeropodcast.com]). They point to several factors for LYMErix's demise: it was a three-shot course, it had middling efficacy, insurance wouldn't always pay for it. There were also hyped up reports about side effects, which came around the same time as Andrew Wakefield's (falsified, retracted, discredited, totally bogus, but zombified-will-never-die) research linking vaccines to autism.
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And unsubstantiated quips from Anonymous Cowards mean fuck-all.
I currently am suffering from Lyme's Disease (Score:1)
It's horrendous. I've lost 35lbs in one month, vomit daily, fatigue is unreal. Worse cramping than the flu. I prefer when I got CoVid-19 to this!
This is awesome news! I got bit by a tick while sleeping in my own bed. My landlord has become a slumlord and am now moving due to it, but it's absolutely horrible to deal with.
I'm in the IT field, and I've had to take several days off just to recoup after a few days of work, and limiting my active work time to 6.5 hours/day, and that's all I can do right now. Mak
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It's horrendous. I've lost 35lbs in one month, vomit daily, fatigue is unreal. Worse cramping than the flu. I prefer when I got CoVid-19 to this!
This is awesome news! I got bit by a tick while sleeping in my own bed. My landlord has become a slumlord and am now moving due to it, but it's absolutely horrible to deal with.
I'm in the IT field, and I've had to take several days off just to recoup after a few days of work, and limiting my active work time to 6.5 hours/day, and that's all I can do right now. Makes paying the bills hard as I'm severely limited in energy and even my ability to eat. I've passed out at this point due to blood sugar crashing, and can't eat more than 4 tablespoons of food before my stomach flips shit and causes me to get violently sick.
This is the worst diet I've been on, but going from 210lbs to 180 in 3 weeks, it's brutal!
I can surely believe it. I was "lucky" in that I only ran a low grade fever, and had cellulitis. The verdict is out on joint damage, since I have a lot of old sports injuries.
But what I wonder about is why they don't have an anti tick application for humans like they have for pets?
It's kind of annoying to have to spray yourself with Deet, or use a combo Deet on the skin, and permethrin on your clothes. I did change to Picardin spray because it doesn't stink, and Deet makes my skin feel oddly warm.
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But what I wonder about is why they don't have an anti tick application for humans like they have for pets?
Apparently simply because pets take fewer baths than humans. The pet bug juice is similar in concept to you slapping on some deet, but you'll wash yours off faster than fido.
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But what I wonder about is why they don't have an anti tick application for humans like they have for pets?
Apparently simply because pets take fewer baths than humans. The pet bug juice is similar in concept to you slapping on some deet, but you'll wash yours off faster than fido.
The meds within are absorbed into the skin. The ones I am familiar with usually have ether as a carrier. And you put it on a spot behind the neck of the animal to keep them from licking it off when they groom - especially the felines.
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I think you should practice blood letting.
Here's info on the trial (NIH) (VLA15) (VALOR) (Score:2)
For those, like me, who are interested in participating.
https://www.clinicaltrials.gov... [clinicaltrials.gov]
36 hours (Score:2)
Lack of Demand? (Score:1)
Some people have claimed the real reason why the earlier vaccine was discontinued was that it gave people Lyme disease.
They require you use contraception during it (Score:2)