Tuesday, October 13, 2015

AN INJECTION THAT MIGHT PREVENT LYME DISEASE

A number of my friends here in Deering have experienced Lyme Disease. It's not a nice experience. Apart from carefully examining EVERY inch of your body and removing all the ticks after you've been outside during the 'tick season, there is no way to protect yourself against infection by the deer tick-born bacterium that causes Lyme Disease. So, this article from the Boston Herald brought with it some pretty good news.

Researchers at U MASS med school found that when individuals were injected with a vaccine that was developed about ten years ago, they developed a bunch of antibodies. They were able to isolate and identify one of those antibodies that, when injected into mice, kills the bacterium in the gut of the tick before it can be transmitted to you with the tick bite.

Preclinical trials are currently underway to determine the human dosage.

Clinical trials in humans are expected to begin next year, and if the Food and Drug Administration approves the antibody drug, it could become commercially available in roughly three years. It is expected that a single yearly injection with the antibody drug will be required to protect from Lyme Disease.

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