Lyme disease vaccine

Re: Lyme disease vaccine

Michael Woodhouse — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 09:46:49 GMT

[quote user="Stephen Courtney"]

Because the males leave their external genitalia detached and plugging up the females' orifice to prevent anyone else doing the business. So mating is a one-off affair of the heart, and if the owner of the sacrificed organ is firing blanks.....no more babies.

[/quote]

You can see why they get their name..............

Re: Lyme disease vaccine

Linda Filshie — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 00:01:43 GMT

Ah well, it was a nice fantasy while it lasted

Re: Lyme disease vaccine

Stephen Courtney — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 23:01:56 GMT

Re: Lyme disease vaccine

Linda Filshie — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 20:50:27 GMT

This morning on Radio 4 there was a segment on the spectacular success the Carter Center has had in nearly eradicating guinea worm disease. It's taken since 1986 but there's been a 99% reduction in cases (3.5 million cases/annum to 542 in 2012). I would love to imagine a world free of ticks in 25 years (although I guess there are more important parasites to tackle, including tsetse flies).

I was incidentally reading a book on bugs in history in Waterstones at the weekend (yes, slightly weird book. I didn't buy it and am now wishing I had. Can't remember the title to order it from amazon so a return trip to Waterstones may be in order). Anyway, one of the chapters was on screwworm and touched on how the US managed to eradicate it by releasing sterile (irradiated) males. Probably pie in the sky and I'm sure someone can shoot me down and explain why it wouldn't, but just wondered whether this might work for ticks...

Re: Lyme disease vaccine

Utlendigur — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 18:54:12 GMT

We're in a tick area (North Wales) but have not found any cases of Lyme disease despite looking for it. During many years of fell running and orienteering, the areas where there seemed to be an increased risk (ie entry information for competitions carried warnings about Lyme disease) were New Forest, some other southern heathland areas, and Scottish Highlands, so I've always associated it with areas with high deer populations - not sure if there is a link though.

From HPA website (England and Wales)

"Cases have been reported from most counties in England and Wales, with infection occurring most frequently in Exmoor, the New Forest, the South Downs, parts of Wiltshire and Berkshire, Surrey and West Sussex,Thetford Forest, the Lake District and the North York Moors. Cases have been reported occasionally from many other areas with suitable tick habitats."

Re: Lyme disease vaccine

Jillian Hall — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 17:24:36 GMT

Thanks for the replies. I certaintly agree that focusing on tick control seems the more sensible option.

I havent heard the technical gumph from the rep yet but my practice has already got some in stock. I know the manafacturers will be telling us how underdiagnosed it is and that it's becoming more and more common. I just wanted to make sure the rest of the world still weren't losing sleep over it.

Re: Lyme disease vaccine

Bob Russell — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 12:32:17 GMT

Apparently the human vaccine is not ready yet (rep information). We live in one of the worst Lyme disease areas. The vaccine is pricey but will be offered. The money may well be better spent on tick control.

I have yet to find a test that I can really trust to detect Lyme disease!

Re: Lyme disease vaccine

John Flynn — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 12:24:46 GMT

[quote user="Virginia Campbell"]Where was this John?[/quote]

Parts of Fermanagh (though that was quite some time ago and I can't honestly say I ever actually did a lyme test in a dog then...) and North of Scotland (to clarify: I tested perhaps a dozen "suspicious" cases where I could justify the lab fee and all were negative) - I worked in various positions there in various parts, some locums, around the time that louping ill was being blamed on decimating the grouse - one establishment that used sheep effectively as tick-mops (graze the sheep to attract ticks on to them, then dunk the sheep in chemicals to kill those ticks) had managed "triple-resistant" tick emergence - there was simply nothing left that would kill all the ticks on the sheep, even with proper management of the dipping facilities...

Re: Lyme disease vaccine

Virginia Campbell — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 12:09:56 GMT

[quote user="John Flynn"]I've certainly worked in areas where ticks outnumber fleas and sadly have had local people contract the disease[/quote]

Where was this John?

Re: Lyme disease vaccine

John Flynn — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 10:58:03 GMT

I guess it's a local thing, but I've certainly worked in areas where ticks outnumber fleas and sadly have had local people contract the disease, but am yet to get a positive lyme result properly lab-confirmed in a dog (of course the lab test could be useless and severely underestimating prevalance...)

As I think it takes 48hrs attachment for a tick to pass on Borrelia to a dog (or was this misinformation from a fipronil-touting drug rep?), I'd probably stick with decent tick preventative over relevant months (I personally like advantix, but there's alternatives including cheaper permethrin products that I suspect are pretty efficacious also).

Are they recommending a vaccine for people in your area on the basis of these rare cases? [That's not a rhetorical question, I honestly don't know if hill walkers are recommended to get vaccinated in some areas or not]. If not, then I'd think twice before trying out a new vaccine in dogs when I hadn't actually seen a case confirmed in a dog.

Here's the WSAVA VGG opinion from 2010 on the Borrelia vaccines available at that time:

"Non-core. The VGG recommends that this vaccine not be administered before 12 weeks of age and preferably after completion of the core series of puppy vaccines. Generally recommended only for use in dogs with a known high risk of exposure, living in or visiting regions where the risk of vector tick exposure is considered to be high, or where disease is known to be endemic."

from: http://www.wsava.org/sites/default/files/VaccinationGuidelines2010.pdf

Re: Lyme disease vaccine

Martin Atkinson — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 10:44:47 GMT

I have never (knowingly) seen a case, certainly around us there are few tick problems even though there are lots of wooded areas so we use Advocate as our routine parasite control. If someone is going to a place there's more likely to be dodgy ticks like the New Forest or Dartmoor I tell them to switch to Advantix or Frontline but I can't say I'll be rushing out to buy Merilym!