Lyme Disease Is on The Rise, But There Might Be Hope in a New Vaccine

Valneva, a French vaccine maker, and Pfizer said Thursday in a follow-up to a phase 2 safety trial that their vaccine candidate had produced lasting immunity.

Six months after the phase 2 trial ended, the companies checked the levels of the children and adults who received the vaccine.

The three-shot group had higher levels of antibodies than the two-shot group.

There was some level of protection against the disease from these levels. There were no serious side effects or safety problems reported by the companies and they are in the middle of a phase 3 clinical trials.

There is a disease caused by ticks. The hallmark symptom is a rash that looks like a bull's-eye around the bitten area.

Carditis can be caused if it isn't treated quickly. Some people can have symptoms for a long time after being treated for the disease.

A Lyme vaccine was pulled from the market 20 years ago

The FDA has approved a vaccine for the disease. The FDA approved a vaccine made by SmithKline Beecham. The vaccine was 75 percent effective at preventing the disease.

The vaccine wasn't recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because the disease was easy to treat.

The vaccine was not approved for children due to the fact that it had not been tested in that population.

In 2002 it was removed from the market after it was found to cause severe side effects.

The vaccine did not cause the reactions found by the CDC and FDA. The drug was withdrawn from the market because of the huge fall in sales.

Valneva and Pfizer are hoping that the public will like the vaccine. The companies are hoping for FDA approval for the vaccine in 2025.

Lyme disease is a growing problem

Since 2002, there has been an increase in the number of cases of lyme disease. According to the CDC, about 30,000 cases are reported each year, but the agency says this is probably less than the true number. In 2002 there were about 24,000 cases.

The study used private insurance-claims data to estimate the number of patients who were diagnosed with and treated for the illness.

A study found that 15 percent of the global population had contracted the disease at some point in their lives.

One theory is that the rise of patchy forests in the American Northeast will lead to more of a particular type of mouse that is a great source of Lyme-causingbacteria.

The climate crisis is making winters more survivable by speeding up the life cycle of ticks and increasing the range of disease-carrying ticks.

The original article was published by Business Insider.