We’re A Long Way off A Vaccination For Lyme Disease

At this moment in time, there is still no vaccine to defend us humans against the debilitating impact that Lyme disease can have on our health. The disease can be treated with antibiotics, but wouldn’t it be great if we could be immunized from this tick borne virus in the first instance. Unfortunately, there’s an incredibly frustrating reason as to why there is no vaccine available, and you can read more about it in the following article:-

The incredibly frustrating reason there’s no Lyme disease vaccine

Lyme has quickly become one of the most common infectious diseases in America, with many as 300,000 people infected every year. And public health officials fear the bacterial infection, which jumps from ticks to humans, will only spread farther and faster as climate change makes more parts of the US habitable for ticks. Lyme can be treated with antibiotics. And there are many ways to prevent tick bites. But there’s no vaccine available if you want extra protection against the disease (unless you’re a dog).

It could be many, many years before a safe vaccination is available to humans. Therefore, we need to make sure we are taking all measures of tick protection available to us.

It’s not just Lyme disease that these bugs can carry. With the rise in the tick population due to climate increase, we are all at a higher risk than ever before of contracting a tick borne virus if we don’t correctly protect ourselves.

Lyme, the tick-borne disease that’s spreading fast, explained

If you’re spending time outdoors in America during the warmer months, there’s an increasing risk you’ll be infected with a disease spread by insects or ticks. That’s the major finding of a new report by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When they looked at the number of illnesses spread by mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas between 2004 and 2016, they found that cases had more than tripled.

As ticks are surviving longer, the risk of Lyme is higher.  As climates rise in other parts of the United States, it means that ticks can also spread geographically. So wherever you may be located, please be on the lookout for ticks, because although prevention via vaccine would be a significant breakthrough, it’s not looking likely. So the best prevention is to take your own steps in the fight against ticks with knowledge and action.