Lyme disease is a disease transmitted by deer ticks to humans.  Symptoms include headache, fatigue, fever, and a specific type of skin rash.  Most cases can be treated successfully using antibiotics, but if Lyme disease is left untreated, it can spread to the heart, joints, and nervous system.  Another bacterium, Borelli miyamotoi, is also transferred by deer ticks.  Having affected 100,000 people in New York alone, it is more likely to be misdiagnosed because it is less well-known and does not have the characteristic skin rash or a specific test to confirm its presence.  However, antibiotics will also clear up this infection in most cases.

One of the challenges to preventing or avoiding these diseases is to notice before a deer tick has a chance to spread the infection.  Researchers at the University of Rhode Island are collecting saliva from deer ticks.  The hope is that they will be able to develop a vaccine that makes a person itch as soon they have been bitten by a deer tick.  This will alert them to remove the tick.

Removing a tick can help prevent infection if done in timely and appropriate manner.  Spreading pathogens usually requires attachment for at least several hours.  Ticks do not bite and leave, they stay attached to continue the feeding process, only dropping off once they are fully engorged.  During the feeding process, they secrete a substance that makes it more difficult to remove them, so early detection is imperative.  Using tweezers, the tick should be slowly and steadily pulled away from the skin.  Safe practices in areas with ticks include checking for ticks frequently.

At present, there are no vaccines for Lyme disease available on the market.  One vaccine, called Lymerix was licensed in 1998 and withdrawn from the market in 2002.  Lymerix was pulled because concerns that it was making people sick resulted in poor sales.  Despite demonstrated efficacy in clinical trials, the maker of another vaccine chose not to apply for a license.  Lawsuits against SmithKline Beecham, the maker of Lymerix, have also been a deterrent for those considering developing a Lyme disease vaccine.

However, Baxter International is working on a vaccine that uses a similar mechanism as Lymerix, but will be able to target strains from Europe as well as the U.S.  They use newly designed proteins, called OspA proteins, which help protect against Lyme.  In clinical trial results released in May, the vaccine showed promise.  The vaccine helped produce antibodies that targeted the pathogen.