The U.S. Department of Agriculture has granted a temporary green light to a vaccine that fights Lyme disease, which has been in development for decades. However, this vaccine is not for humans, but for mice. The vaccine causes mice to develop antibodies that neutralize Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes most cases of Lyme disease in the United States. The idea is that when ticks feed on the blood of a vaccinated mouse, they won’t become infected and therefore can’t transmit the bacteria to people or other animals.
Jean Tsao, a disease ecologist at Michigan State University, who was not involved in developing the new vaccine, says that “Mice are probably one of the most important reservoir hosts for Lyme disease,” especially in the Eastern United States where Lyme disease is rampant. Reservoir hosts are animals with B. burgdorferi in their blood (SN: 2/5/21).
The vaccine has been granted a conditional license on May 9, which means that it is available on request by groups such as federal and state health agencies under certain conditions for roughly one year, with the possibility of renewal.
2023-05-31 07:00:00
Link from www.sciencenews.org
rnrn