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A shot to prevent Lyme disease could be on its way

outsideonline.com

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Re: A shot to prevent Lyme disease could be on its way

#31

Post by robbiep »

elric wrote: post #26
skocznymroczny wrote: post #21

I think a good test for Lyme disease would be more important than a vaccine (which is welcome too if it works well). The problem with Lyme disease is that it's symptoms are very wide and generic, and the commonly used tests are not very reliable. This means that many people live with the disease not aware of it, while others self-diagnose Lyme disease and cure it even if they didn't have it (because they had symptoms…

I'm not sure why this is getting downvoted. Testing for lyme really is pretty unreliable. Given how hard it is to reliably test for, we really don't have a good grasp on how prevalent lyme infections are. Another thing that would great, in addition to a vaccine and better testing, is prevention. Infected ticks are way more wide spread than they used to be. I've heard various reasons for this, including habitat loss o…

It might be downvotes because the op didn’t read the article, which isn’t about a vaccine (the article says there was one but it was discontinued) but about the Lyme equivalent of PREP

Re: A shot to prevent Lyme disease could be on its way

#32

Post by vimy »

skocznymroczny wrote: post #21

I think a good test for Lyme disease would be more important than a vaccine (which is welcome too if it works well). The problem with Lyme disease is that it's symptoms are very wide and generic, and the commonly used tests are not very reliable. This means that many people live with the disease not aware of it, while others self-diagnose Lyme disease and cure it even if they didn't have it (because they had symptoms…

Correct. The ELISA test is as reliable as a coin toss. It was also never meant to be used for diagnosis, only for research.

Re: A shot to prevent Lyme disease could be on its way

#33

Post by gkilmain »

spicybright wrote: post #23

As a US new england-er, this is game changer for walking through woods. For those un-informed, on a walk through any woods, you should always wear high socks, and do a full body check for ticks after. Deer ticks can be as small as a few grains of sand, and near undetectable if they latch on unless you have sharp eyes. Obviously they can transmit lymes. I had a close encounter a few years ago, but very luckily giant r…

My experience with ticks: Closer to the home is where you're going to find the small ones. I've had two on me. First one was easy to spot it looked like a freckle on my knee. The second one I felt the bite (thought it was an itch) and it was on my inner thigh. Not sure if I would have noticed the second one if it wasn't for its haphazard bite. Both latched on when I was in / near the garden.

Re: A shot to prevent Lyme disease could be on its way

#34

Post by vinnymac »

This article gives me hope. My grandfather has Lyme disease and it took a very long time to identify, he’s very old and spends a lot of time outdoors, so the disease has made life much harder. I live in an area with a lot of white tailed deer. I get at least 600 on my property a year, as it’s a highly trafficked area with a lot of bedding and running water. Last winter my wife had one embedded in her that I had to pull out, and I immediately got worried about Lyme disease. Every day around 5pm a baby doe comes to our backyard to eat some greens and I receive my reminder that the summer season is coming to a close and ticks may become rampant again.

More than anything, I hope we can improve our identification of this disease, a vaccine would absolutely be a game changer, if they can make it happen.

Re: A shot to prevent Lyme disease could be on its way

#35

Post by inter_netuser »

GuB-42 wrote: post #22
inter_netuser wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't think vendors that sell products that can leave you maimed for the rest of your life, damage or eliminate entirely your earning potential, destroy your marital relations, and destroy future of your children should not be liable for injuries caused by their product? Really? You are against holding people liable for faulty products?

There wouldn't be a single car being sold if it was the case. The vaccine was approved by the FDA, they did their part making sure it was safe. 100% certainty is impossible, and people should not be held liable to that. Here, they pulled off their product off not because it was shown to be unsafe but because it was unprofitable. Due to the controversy, it was a tough sell, and lawsuits are costly no matter if you are…

This one is a real weird forum.

Class action against car manufacturer, Toyota, because of 200-400 injuries from airbags? GOOD

Class action against any medical product? BAD until proven otherwise.

It’s like tainted blood transfusions, vioxx, fen-phen, thalidomide just never happened.

I’m guessing the demographics is on the younger and still thinks they are made from steel.

Re: A shot to prevent Lyme disease could be on its way

#36

Post by bregma »

elric wrote: post #26
skocznymroczny wrote: post #21

I think a good test for Lyme disease would be more important than a vaccine (which is welcome too if it works well). The problem with Lyme disease is that it's symptoms are very wide and generic, and the commonly used tests are not very reliable. This means that many people live with the disease not aware of it, while others self-diagnose Lyme disease and cure it even if they didn't have it (because they had symptoms…

I'm not sure why this is getting downvoted. Testing for lyme really is pretty unreliable. Given how hard it is to reliably test for, we really don't have a good grasp on how prevalent lyme infections are. Another thing that would great, in addition to a vaccine and better testing, is prevention. Infected ticks are way more wide spread than they used to be. I've heard various reasons for this, including habitat loss o…

I don't understand why there would be a problem testing for borreliosis. It's caused by the borrelia spirochete, which is almost identical to syphilis. The variant of borrelia that causes relapsing fever was one of the very first causative micro-organisms diagnosed because it it so obvious under a low-power microscope. Surely the variant of borrelia named after a town in New England should be as easy to diagnose: if you have the spirochete you have the infection, otherwise you don't.

Granted I'm just a rando on the internet and not an expert in infections diseases. On the other hand, I've diagnosed with and successfully treated for Lyme disease. I still get dozens of tick bites a year. A reliable test would be a boon for people like me.

Re: A shot to prevent Lyme disease could be on its way

#37

Post by foepys »

jacobr wrote: post #6

TBE is another terrible tick borne neurological disease that’s increasing rapidly, currently only in Eurasia. There’s no cure, but at least a decent vaccine. It requires booster shots every 5 years though. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick-borne_encephalitis

While it might turn deadly, there are many asymptomatic cases, too, so it's not like Ebola or something.

One should still get the vaccine when living in or traveling to an affected area and plans to go into nature, though. When I was last vaccinated it took 3 months for the vaccine to reach ~70% efficacy after 2 shots and 12 more months to reach 99% efficacy after 3 shots, so people should not wait until they travel to get it.

Re: A shot to prevent Lyme disease could be on its way

#38

Post by eganist »

imwillofficial wrote: post #25
markus92 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tell that to the antivaxers that attack vaccination sites and spread the propaganda.

You say the word “propaganda” pretty loosely. I bet you also said “3 weeks to flatten the curve!”

> I bet you also said “3 weeks to flatten the curve!”

The vaccines were working perfectly in that regard until we hit a wall of people unwilling to take them, which brought us in the US to where we are today when antivax lag hampered us from outrunning the delta variant.

Iceland[1], with >70% vaccination rates, is seeing much different outcomes even in spite of record infections.

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/iceland-covid-su...

Re: A shot to prevent Lyme disease could be on its way

#39

Post by jeromegv »

tamrix wrote: post #12
hannob wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I understand the vaccine wasn't taken off the market by the FDA or science. It was taken off the market by the company producing it, due to pressure from lawsuits and bullshit concerns about risks.

Antivax are people who don't want to take the vaccine. They're not against other people taking vaccines or the development of vaccines. You're likely misinformed.

Lots of antivax activists have been attacking vaccination sites all over North America and Europe

Re: A shot to prevent Lyme disease could be on its way

#40

Post by hannob »

tamrix wrote: post #12
hannob wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I understand the vaccine wasn't taken off the market by the FDA or science. It was taken off the market by the company producing it, due to pressure from lawsuits and bullshit concerns about risks.

Antivax are people who don't want to take the vaccine. They're not against other people taking vaccines or the development of vaccines. You're likely misinformed.

So you're saying the people who were shouting at people standing in line to get a vaccine against covid (which happened plenty of times in Germany and I'm sure in other places, too) are not antivaxxers?
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