The Lyme disease vaccine : Conception, development, and implementation

• Published in: Annals of internal medicine Vol. 132; no. 8; pp. 661 - 668
• Main Authors: THANASSI, W. T, SCHOEN, R. T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia, PA American College of Physicians 18-04-2000
• Subjects: Animals; Antigens, Surface; Arthropod Vectors - microbiology; Bacterial diseases; Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; Bacterial Vaccines; Biological and medical sciences; Borrelia burgdorferi Group - immunology; Borrelia infections; Human bacterial diseases; Humans; Infectious diseases; Ixodes - microbiology; Lipoproteins; Lyme Disease - epidemiology; Lyme Disease - prevention & control; Medical sciences; Tropical bacterial diseases; United States - epidemiology; United States Food and Drug Administration; United States; Infection; Design; Human; Prevention; Lyme disease; Vaccination; Borrelia infection; Bacteriosis; Development; Implementation; Spirachaetosis
• ISSN: 0003-4819; 1539-3704
• DOI: 10.7326/0003-4819-132-8-200004180-00009

In the past 20 years, remarkable strides have been made toward understanding and preventing Lyme disease in humans. In December 1998, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a recombinant outer surface protein A vaccine against Lyme disease (LYMErix, SmithKline Beecham, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). The vaccine, which is derived from a lipidated outer surface protein of the causative spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, is important because it may decrease the morbidity and financial costs associated with Lyme disease. Its mechanism is unique because it works inside the tick vector itself, preventing the human from becoming infected.