BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 4, 2021
Lyme disease has become an insidious epidemic. Caused by bacteria transmitted through the bite of an infected tick, it can lead to heart problems, meningitis or arthritis if left untreated. Around 475,000 people likely will contract the disease each year. More than 50 percent of the American population lives in an area where these ticks are found. Efforts continue to create a human vaccine as well as to stop the spread of Lyme by other means, including using gene editing to immunize mice that can transmit the bacteria to ticks, killing deer and using pesticides to control ticks. My colleagues and I have been working on a different kind of prevention: a yearly injection. In February 2021, we received approval from the FDA to proceed with the first human clinical trial of Lyme PrEP. The preliminary results show that Lyme PrEP is safe and should be effective during the entire nine-month season when most people acquire Lyme disease.