Duncansville, Pennsylvania — Researchers conduct first-of-its-kind experiments in the United States and Europe. We are looking for as many volunteers as possible, and within 20 years we may have a vaccine against Lyme disease. This is in hopes of improving the fight against tick-borne threats.
Lyme disease is a growing problem. Tick habitats are expanding due to rising numbers of infected people and a warming climate. Vaccines for dogs have been available for some time, but the only Lyme vaccine for humans was withdrawn from the U.S. market in 2002 due to lack of demand, forcing people to resort to bug spray and tick checks. no longer get
Now Pfizer and French biotech Valneva avoid previous pitfalls in developing a new vaccine that protects both adults and her 5-year-old from the most common Lyme strain on two continents Aiming to be
"I don't think there was that perception of the severity of Lyme disease," said the number of people affected by the previous Pfizer vaccine. Chief Annalisa Anderson told the Associated Press.
His Robert Terwilliger, an avid hunter and hiker, was first in line Friday when the survey began in central Pennsylvania. He is tired of seeing so many of his friends have Lyme disease and thinking that the next tick bite will make him sick. "Especially when you're sitting in a grove of trees hunting and you feel something crawling around you," said Terwilliger, 60, of Williamsburg, Pennsylvania. "You have to be very careful."
The exact incidence of Lyme disease is not known. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cites insurance records that suggest 476,000 people in the United States receive treatment for Lyme disease each year. Pfizer's Anderson puts the annual number of infections in Europe at about 130,000.
Black-legged ticks, also called deer ticks, carry the bacteria that cause Lyme. Infections initially cause fatigue, fever, and joint pain. Often, but not always, the first sign is a red, rounded bullseye rash.
Early antibiotic treatment is important, but it can be difficult to tell if you have been bitten by a tick as small as a needle. Unprocessed lime can cause severe arthritis and damage the heart and nervous system. Some people continue to have symptoms after treatment.
Most vaccines against other diseases work after people have been exposed to the bacteria. The Lyme vaccine offers another strategy - it works a step forward to block tick bites from transmitting infection.
How. It targets an “outer surface protein” of Lyme bacteria called OspA present in the gut of ticks. It is estimated that the tick has to eat someone for about 36 hours before the bacterium spreads to the victim. You are given time to attack.
In a small early-stage study, Pfizer and Varneva reported good immune responses with no safety issues. test if there is The companies aim to employ at least 6,000 people in the northeastern United States and Lyme-prone regions including Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden.
They will give her three doses of either vaccine or placebo between now and next spring's tick season. After a year, they will receive one booster dose.
"We are really looking at seasonal vaccines," Anderson said. As a result, people have higher levels of antibodies when ticks are most active. Therefore, they should be at high risk, said Dr. Alan Kiewitz. A research facility at the Altoona Clinical Research Center in Duncansville, Pennsylvania.
In his own practice, Kibbitz said, "Not a single day goes by when someone is worried about, or possibly has, Lyme disease." 48}
This new candidate differs from the previous Lyme vaccine, which GlaxoSmithKline withdrew from the market in 2002 amid controversy and slow sales. With an efficacy of about 75%, the old lime shot received lukewarm support from vaccine experts, was untested in children, and garnered unsubstantiated reports of joint-related side effects.
} The new Pfizer-Varneva vaccine also targets the OspA protein, but is designed somewhat differently than its predecessor, targeting not just one, but six Lyme strains in the US and Europe.
The Pfizer study, which he plans to span two tick seasons to get answers, isn't the only study on new ways to prevent Lyme disease. Scientists at the University of Massachusetts are working on an alternative vaccine, a shot of pre-made Lyme-fighting antibodies. Vaccine design is in the early stages. In animal studies, it caused skin reactions that made it difficult for the ticks to stick and feed. So ultimately, "we hope to have a vaccine that prevents tick bites," Wurmser said.
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