United Press International Published: March 20, 2008 at 1:00 AM
FORT COLLINS, Colo., March 20 (UPI) -- Lyme disease may be prevented with an injection of antibiotics, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Fort Collins, Colo., said.
The CDC scientists have developed an injection that protects against two severe diseases transmitted by tick bites: Lyme disease and Anaplasmosis.
"Along the Northeastern seaboard, ticks are often co-infected with the bacteria that cause Lyme disease and Anaplasmosis," Dr. Nordin Zeidner said in a statement. "Currently, there is no vaccine to protect against either organism. We have shown that a single injection of sustained-release antibiotics can prevent both diseases in mice."
A single dose of doxycycline given orally is only 20 percent to 30 percent effective at preventing these diseases in mice.
The study, published in the Journal of Medical Microbiology, found that a new formulation of doxycycline hyclate that is programmed to release the drug over a 20-day period was 100 percent effective.
"It has no adverse effect on humans and it can be programmed to release a drug over several weeks to several months," Zeidner said.
� 2008 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
Posted by treepatrol (Member # 4117) on :
Someone should email this to them.
Miss Ms links Posted by pineapple (Member # 11904) on :
Lyme Disease Can Be Prevented With New Shot, Study Suggests
ScienceDaily (Mar. 20, 2008) -- Lyme disease is the blight of countryside users but it may be prevented with a single injection, according to research published in the Journal of Medical Microbiology.
The US saw nearly 20,000 cases of Lyme disease in 2006 and there are up to 2,000 cases a year in the UK, a figure that is increasing steadily. Now scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA, have developed an injection that protects against two severe diseases transmitted by tick bites: Lyme disease and Anaplasmosis.
"Along the North-eastern seaboard of the US, ticks are often co-infected with the bacteria that cause Lyme disease and Anaplasmosis," says Dr Nordin Zeidner. "Currently there is no vaccine to protect against either organism. We have shown that a single injection of sustained-release antibiotics can prevent both diseases in mice."
A single dose of doxycycline given orally is only 20-30% effective at preventing these diseases in mice. The researchers found that a new formulation of doxycycline hyclate that is programmed to release the drug over a 20 day period is 100% effective.
"The underlying copolymer formulation has been in use for over 20 years. It has no adverse effect on humans and it can be programmed to release a drug over several weeks to several months," says Dr Zeidner. "We plan to test the doxycycline formulation to develop different release kinetics and delivery methods. For example, a slow release patch could be used in conjunction with current recommended protection against ticks, such as repellents and personal tick checks."
Adapted from materials provided by Society for General Microbiology, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Source: Society for General Microbiology (2008, March 20). Lyme Disease Can Be Prevented With New Shot, Study Suggests. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 20, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com� /releases/2008/03/080319193029.htm
Posted by pineapple (Member # 11904) on :
Does anybody have full access to this article by the Dums? I assume this is the article they are referencing.
Lancet Infect Dis. 2008 Mar;8(3):146-7. Links
Chemoprophylaxis against Lyme disease.
Wormser GP, Dattwyler RJ, Shapiro ED, Dumler JS, O'Connell S, Radolf JD, Nadelman RB. Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, NY, USA.
PMID: 18291334 [PubMed - in process]
Posted by pineapple (Member # 11904) on :
Oh God, the WORM is at it again with his hypotheses. Now a single dose of Zithromax is a cure too possibly? Ha. I had 5 doses. It didn't cure me!!
: Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2008 Mar;31(3):235-9. Epub 2008 Jan 15. Links Pharmacodynamics of doxycycline for chemoprophylaxis of Lyme disease: preliminary findings and possible implications for other antimicrobials.Lee J, Wormser GP. Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY 10595, USA.
The purpose of this study was to begin to characterise the pharmacodynamic parameters of single-dose doxycycline for the prevention of Lyme disease following a tick bite. Based on limited data from published human and murine studies, it was found that there is a direct correlation between efficacy rate and the area under the time-concentration of free antibiotic curve divided by the minimum inhibitory concentration (fAUC/MIC) (R(2)=0.74, using Pearson correlation), but not the maximum concentration of free drug in serum divided by the MIC (fC(max)/MIC) or the time that the free drug concentration remains above the MIC (fT>MIC). To determine the possible implications of these findings for other antimicrobials, it was assumed that the pharmacodynamic properties of doxycycline would be pertinent to azithromycin, an antibiotic whose activity is known to correlate with AUC/MIC. By making such an extrapolation and using pharmacokinetic modelling with conservative assumptions on MIC values against Borrelia burgdorferi, it is hypothesised that a single 500mg dose of azithromycin in humans should have comparable efficacy to doxycycline for the prevention of Lyme disease. Additional experimental studies are needed to clarify more precisely the pharmacodynamic properties of doxycycline and to validate the accuracy of this hypothesis.
Posted by oxygenbabe (Member # 5831) on :
My first post did not go through.
I don't see the purpose of this approach for most people. Ticks are in their backyards and active from early spring to late fall and even in the warmer months in winter, even here in the northeast. So if you're a typical family you would be taking this long acting antibiotic, and so would your children, every month for life in order to prevent infection with lyme disease (if it even worked)? And what does that do for bartonella and babesia. The only way this type of intervention would be useful is if 1) ticks were mainly in isolated hotspots like national forests where people like to camp for weeks at a time, in such case, on a camping trip you might take this as a preventive or 2) you actually see the tick within hours of attachment which is rare, in which case for convenience sake instead of taking doxy for 3 weeks on finding a tickbite (with no symptoms yet) you take one pill. But this is just for convenience.
What is needed is a vaccine that is based on tick saliva, and kills a tick when it bites you. That's the only way to prevent all the tick related infections.
Posted by Aniek (Member # 5374) on :
The injection is a time released antibiotic that is released over 20 days. So this actually sounds like it could be much better than the single oral dose that is recommended in the IDSA guidelines.
It's still being studied. But I don't see why we wouldn't be happy if this actually worked. It's no where near being recommended yet, it's still in studies.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
I would be VERY happy if it would work. I'm a bit skeptical of the "20 days." But it's tons better than this:
"A single dose of doxycycline given orally is only 20 percent to 30 percent effective at preventing these diseases in mice."
We could have told them that wouldn't work!! Posted by daise (Member # 13622) on :
More BULL!
daise Posted by Blackstone (Member # 9453) on :
This is a prophylaxis, not a cure. Theoretically, it makes sense. Give someone who's not infected before they go on a 10 day camping trip, and even if they get bitten, the slow-release doxy in their system will probably kill the lyme before it has a chance to encyst itself or establish in tissues.
The problem here becomes an overuse of antibiotics issue - what ramifications will people have at the dose of doxy they're giving?
Its probably perfectly safe and even has some scientific merit, but its nothing that is anywhere close to a true "inoculation" or vaccine.
Posted by sparkle7 (Member # 10397) on :
Could they also use the injection for people with Lyme already? Seems alot better than taking the pills.
Posted by Aniek (Member # 5374) on :
I think it's actually meant for people who have a tick bite, but have not yet developed symptoms.
Right now, the IDSA guidelines recommend a single oral dose of doxy in that case. The CDC is admitting that's only 20-30% effective in mice. I think it's good that they are admitting that.
Posted by bettyg (Member # 6147) on :
hog wash again... Posted by oxygenbabe (Member # 5831) on :
Again, for this to have any merit for most people in endemic areas where there are deer all around and ticks in their yards, they'd have to be on this constantly, and so would their kids, at least from April to October. That's a lot of antibiotics with all kinds of other problems (candida, gut problems, resistant bacteria etc). It's rather Draconian as a preventive. In addition it wouldn't prevent other bad coinfections. And as for someone who had a tickbite, most people don't notice the nymph tickbites and that's the whole problem.
This to me is mainly useful *perhaps* for people who go on camping trips etc.
In addition, given the recent mice studies where they were given 30 days of antibiotics upon inoculation with the spirochete, and were tissue positive later, I'm not sure this would even work.And a rhesus monkey study will be coming out soon to show that too.
Posted by Geneal (Member # 10375) on :
At least this shot wouldn't lead to Lyme (like Lymerix) .
What about co-infections?
It would be fantabulous if this works...
I hate to be a skeptic, but what about human trials.
Who is going to volunteer to get bit by a tick (with bb)
Get the shot and see what happens?
Yikes!
Not me.
What about children who should not be on doxy due to teeth staining issues.
They are really the ones most at risk.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posted by Aniek (Member # 5374) on :
Remember, right now per the IDSA guidelines people going to the doctor with a tick bite get one oral dose of doxy. The one that is 20-30% effective in mice.
For those people, this would hopefully be a lot more effective.
Also, the CDC support of this suggests that they are willing to question IDSA in at least their current oral dose prophylaxis.
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