Lyme disease shot might soon be a reality

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For decades, Lyme disease has been on the rise in North America and it is one of the hardest diseases to diagnose. Photo: Pexels

 

(Janet Krajcsik/ Pennsylvania News) — Those who have had experiences with Lyme disease must be ecstatic. Because according to a report by WBUR (Boston’s NPR news station), a springtime shot to prevent Lyme disease could become available in 2023.

The shot has been developed by MassBiologics, the nonprofit unit of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worchester.

Take note however, it’s not a vaccine, it is what the researchers call “pre-exposure prophylaxis,” known as PrEP: “It delivers anti-Lyme antibodies directly to the patient rather than triggering the patient’s own immune system to make the antibodies as vaccines do.”

Dr. Mark Klempner of MassBiologics and his colleagues pinpointed antibodies as being the key to immunity against Lyme disease after a vaccine failed. Klempner said:
 

“A Lyme vaccine that used to be publicly available had been withdrawn and since we understood the mechanism of protection there, we were able to go right after the molecule that we thought would be protective.” (…)

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