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1997 Osp C vaccine

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JWissmille

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Apr 20, 2003, 9:31:36 PM4/20/03

"...... The success is remarkable, says Mark Hanson, a microbiologist from
MedImmune Inc. in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Yet he and others wonder whether
the vaccine has truly eliminated the spirochetes, or just temporarily
suppressed them below detectable levels........"

Posted 18 November 1997, 5 pm PST<

APnet
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New Vaccine for Lyme Disease

Scientists have created a vaccine that seems to rid mice of chronic Lyme
disease, a rare condition marked by skin infections, arthritis, and
neurological problems. The finding, reported in the current issue of the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides hope that the
disease can be cured in people who don't respond to antibiotics.
The rod-shaped bacterium<Picture>, called a spirochete, that causes
Lyme disease lives in the gut of deer ticks and slides into animal blood
via the tick's saliva. Scientists have been able to block infection with a
vaccine that helps the immune system recognize a protein, called OspA, that
coats the surface of the spirochete. But once the bug has snuck in, the
vaccine is useless. That's because the spirochete dons a disguise,
converting OspA into a related protein called OspC.
Several groups of scientists have been trying to create a vaccine
that would allow the immune system to recognize OspC. Now a team from the
Max Planck Institute of Immunology in Freiberg, Germany; the University of
Heidelberg in Germany; and the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland, have
succeeded in purifying a stable form of OspC. To test for a protective
effect, the researchers infected mice with Lyme disease, then 10 to 19 days
later, they injected them with a high dose of OspC. All five mice were
cured of their symptoms, such as arthritis. Additionally, the researchers
could detect spirochetes in only one mouse.
The success is remarkable, says Mark Hanson, a microbiologist from
MedImmune Inc. in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Yet he and others wonder whether
the vaccine has truly eliminated the spirochetes, or just temporarily
suppressed them below detectable levels.

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