Amy Schumer or Justin Bieber have revealed that they have Lyme disease, transmitted by tick bites. Still little known, we know that it causes muscle and joint pain, fatigue, headaches, fever, but can also cause heart or neurological disorders. American scientists from Yale University are developing a vaccine to prevent it, as explained International mailaccording to the study in the review Science Translational Medicine.
Its objective is not so much to prevent the organism from developing the disease following a tick bite. It is above all to make the bite detectable, when it often goes unnoticed. Gold, the sooner it is identified and treated with antibiotics, the greater the chances of avoiding developing the disease.
A vaccine that would cause a visible skin reaction
The vaccine would therefore have a targeting function rather than a treatment as such. It could help cause redness around the bite and lead to itchinglike a warning signal, allowing the patient to go to a doctor.
The follow-up would be the same as at present, i.e. the administration of an antibiotic treatment to prevent the disease from taking hold, namely doxycycline, amoxicillin or even ceftriaxone, known as “broad-spectrum”. Other treatments are being researched to target the bacteria responsible for the disease: Borrelia burgdorfera.
Source: mRNA vaccination induces tick resistance and prevents transmission of the Lyme disease agent, Science Translational MedicineNovember 17, 2021.
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