CENTRAL MAINE • September 19, 2024
Nearly half a million Americans received a new diagnosis of Lyme disease this summer. Those numbers could shrink if scientists succeed in developing a vaccine for the tick-borne illness. Low consumer demand scuppered a previous vaccine in the 1990s, but the situation is different now. Cases of Lyme have exploded and about 10%-20% of confirmed Lyme cases do not resolve with antibiotics. That should heighten interest in a new vaccine. But even a new vaccine won’t be the final answer to the Lyme problem. Some labs are examining other prevention strategies. And new lines of prevention shouldn’t slow efforts to crack the mystery of persistent Lyme. People don’t develop natural immunity to Lyme disease. We can get infected again and again. We don’t fully understand why cases have risen so much. Our warming climate does play a role, but it’s not the whole story. ~ F.D. Flam