Lyme Disease

[scoutingagain]

I noticed the GSS does not directly address Lyme disease, or at least I did not see it. Lyme Disease has been identified in all of the lower 48 states but is most prevalent in the Northeast from Virginia to New England and in the upper Mid West. As we head into April, ticks, the vector that transfers the disease to humans become active and Lyme disease rates tend to go up. General information on Lyme disease can be found on the CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/submenus/sub_lyme.htm .

 

While it can be prevented with some precautions, every year my employer has 2-3 employees contract Lyme disease associated with working outdoors in wooded or semi-wooded areas. While the disease can be treated with anti-biotics, if undiagnosed it can become difficult to treat and quite painful.

 

What do your units do about Lyme disease?

 

SA

 

 

[scoutldr]

Educate. Every tick goes to the health lodge to be removed and logged in. A PhD Entomologist I work with said that the tick must be attached for 48 hrs in order to transmit disease (but I wouldn't bet on it), so daily showers and tick checks while at camp and timely removal is imperative. Another problem is that the young deer tick (the only species which transmits the Lyme spirochete) is almost invisible to the naked eye (about the size of a spider mite) and is often mistaken for a speck of sand or dirt. Of course, if you have a young female paramedic at the health lodge, the guys will go hunting for ticks just to get a trip to the "Doc".

 

Is the risk real? Absolutely...our SM contracted Lyme disease from our Council camp. But didn't know it until 6 months later when he started having joint pain. Not everyone gets the tell-tale "bullseye" rash.

[scoutingagain]

scoutldr,

 

I agree, the risk is real and this disease is potentially more harmful to a young person still undergoing physical development, which is why I brought up the subject and am suprised the GSS does not address the issue.

 

Going to the clinic for tick removal may work in a summer camp setting, but ticks are most active in the Northeast in the spring and fall, when most troops are camping on their own. Unfortunately we do not have an attractive female medical person to bring along. One dad is an EMT, but not all that attractive.

 

We will have a short session prior to our April camping trip on the issue. It's something we havn't done in the past but given the number of cases I've seen the last few years, Lyme disease is a real concern especially in southern New England and the Mid-Atlantic States.

 

On the plus side more physicians in our area seem to be able to recognize the disease. Only a few years ago many cases were missed or diagnosed incorrectly.

 

SA

 

 

[scoutldr]

I never said "attractive". Being female was enough. Oddly, when they hired a 350 pound male paramedic, health lodge visits dropped dramatically ;-)

[eisely]

Go to this thread:

 

http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=1414#id_1414

[fotoscout]

The Public Health Service campaigns in this area have been quite effective. Couple that with occasional news articles about Lyme Disease, and the end result is that most people in this area who engage in outdoor activities have become, at the very least aware, and some very knowledgeable about Lyme Disease. We do a brief refresher each time we go on an outing and remind everyone to check themselves thoroughly at the end of the day. Its not too unusual for someone to find a tick on their body, but it is very unusual for it to be the very small deer tick that carries the disease.

 

Those of us with younger children have no problem getting the child to submit to a thorough body check. I am curious how you get the older kids to do this?

 

 

 

[Proud Eagle]

We very briefly had a SM who had, years before, simultaneously acquired Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever at the same time. Both were incorrectly diagnosed, despite the fact he new he had been bitten by a very large number of ticks while sleeping out under the stars. Therefore treatment was at best several weeks late. He still has certain medical complications from that come up. However, he did recover pretty well, since last I heard he was supposed to be going on an expedition to the Himalayas sometime.

 

Now you mentioned the, shall we say, cooperative tick checks. Most people I have known tried to avoid that. Enough Scouts are embarrassed about just using the open air camp showers. At camp the medics always suggest that it is best to have someone else check for ticks, but it is usually about that time that some Scout gets the inspiration for some rather unpleasant joke.

 

 

[Region 7 Voyageur]

Does anyone have experience or information about the Lyme disease vaccine?

 

Our Council had several cases of scouts that were diagnosed with Lyme disease last summer. The suspected source of the ticks was the council summer camp.

 

I heard several years ago that the vaccination took several shots at specific time intervals and at that time it was only 50 to 75% effective. I would get the vaccine if it worked.

 

[scoutingagain]

I believe manufacture of the lyme disease vaccine has been discontinued.

 

From the CDC Website:

 

" Lyme Disease Vaccine

 

A safe and efficacious vaccine was, until recently, available for protection from Lyme disease in endemic areas of the United States. However, the vaccine was withdrawn from the market by the manufacturer in February 2002 because of low sales and is no longer commercially available. "

 

 

SA

[scoutldr]

Even when available, it was only FDA approved for use in adults.

[RememberSchiff]

Update Aug 8, 2022:

Pfizer has started a late-stage clinical trial for a protein-based Lyme vaccine, VLA15. Vaccination will be a three-dose regimen, administered over a five-to-nine month period, followed by a booster dose 12 months later. It targets Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. Pfizer has been co-developing the vaccine with French biotech firm Valneva since 2020.

There are currently no vaccines approved in the United States for the tick-borne illness, which infects an estimated 476,000 people in the U.S. each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pfizer said it aims to enroll approximately 6,000 healthy adults and children 5 and older in the phase 3 trial, which will evaluate whether the vaccine is safe and effective.

More at sources:

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/lyme-disease-vaccine-pfizer-begins-late-stage-clinical-trial-rcna41740

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2022/08/08/pfizer-lyme-disease-vaccine-trial-valneva/10266892002/

Note: @scoutldr

 

Edited August 9, 2022 by RememberSchiff

[RememberSchiff]

On 8/9/2022 at 10:07 AM, RememberSchiff said:

Update Aug 8, 2022:

Pfizer has started a late-stage clinical trial for a protein-based Lyme vaccine, VLA15. Vaccination will be a three-dose regimen, administered over a five-to-nine month period, followed by a booster dose 12 months later. It targets Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. Pfizer has been co-developing the vaccine with French biotech firm Valneva since 2020.

There are currently no vaccines approved in the United States for the tick-borne illness, which infects an estimated 476,000 people in the U.S. each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pfizer said it aims to enroll approximately 6,000 healthy adults and children 5 and older in the phase 3 trial, which will evaluate whether the vaccine is safe and effective.

More at sources:

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/lyme-disease-vaccine-pfizer-begins-late-stage-clinical-trial-rcna41740

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2022/08/08/pfizer-lyme-disease-vaccine-trial-valneva/10266892002/

Note: @scoutldr

 

Update July 24,2024:

"About 80 people are involved in the trial at MaineHealth’s Pen Bay Medical Center, which is part of a national study of a Lyme vaccine called VLA15 developed by the companies Pfizer and Valneva, according to Dr. Robert Smith, who’s working on the trial team. In total, the study is testing the safety and effectiveness of the shot on nearly 9,500 people across the country.

...

The goal is for the vaccine to show a statistically significant decline in cases of Lyme disease. Smith said the trials are expected to conclude by the end of 2025, which is when Pfizer will submit the vaccine to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval."

Dr. Smith believes this is the only Lyme disease vaccine in final phase of trials.  However, the University of Pennsylvania medical school is developing an mRNA vaccine that has completed preclinical animal trials.

Sources:

https://www.bangordailynews.com/2024/07/23/midcoast/midcoast-health/lyme-disease-vaccine-tested-midcoast-hospital-xoasq1i29i/

https://www.cell.com/molecular-therapy-family/molecular-therapy/fulltext/S1525-0016(23)00428-8?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1525001623004288%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2023/september/penn-medicine-develops-mrna-vaccine-against-lyme-disease

 

[qwazse]

As nasty as I’ve seen Lyme disease get, I remain skeptical of vaccines that are deployed against pathogens that rarely kill. Jabs rarely cause side effects, but when given to millions, we begin to observe sacrificing the well being of the few who react violently negatively to the vaccine for the sake of a few more who fall ill from the disease.

[RememberSchiff]

21 hours ago, qwazse said:

As nasty as I’ve seen Lyme disease get, I remain skeptical of vaccines that are deployed against pathogens that rarely kill. Jabs rarely cause side effects, but when given to millions, we begin to observe sacrificing the well being of the few who react violently negatively to the vaccine for the sake of a few more who fall ill from the disease.

"That which does not kills us, makes us stronger." ?

I hear what you are saying. All meds have side-effects. Weigh the good versus the bad, but not yourself?  

My old immune system tells me to be prepared. So a Shingles shot, RSV vaccine, a booster for whooping cough,... I even took an antibody test - sonuvagun my Hep A &B vaccines must have been placebos! We are all unique in our health needs. In my family, I have seen some of the long term effects of Lyme - Bell's palsy, fatigue, joint pain. More than a decade ago, my wife was given a prolonged antibiotic treatment for Lyme at Pen Bay Medical Center. It was less than successful. We would be in line for an approved Lyme vaccine.

My $0.02,

[qwazse]

Getting antibiotics as soon as you find out you’ve been bit is key. My citified docs wanted me to take a dose every time I came out of the woods! I guess if a doc ever forces the issue, I’d opt for a jab over perpetual doses of antibiotics.
My buddy’s son-in-law was crippled from Gillian-Barr syndrome precipitated by a flu shot. So, I try to keep him in mind when I review vaccine outcomes.
The most recent have been incredibly safe. That’s why trials like these are able to go forward. We just have to be careful about training folks to be on the lookout for side effects. I’m not sure if my logic is entirely correct, but I always tell folks who’ve reacted to a jab before to be very choosy about vaccines going forward.