The Lyme Disease Vaccine: Conception, Development, and Implementation

The Lyme Disease Vaccine: Conception, Development, and Implementation

Wendy Todaro Thanassi, MA, MD; and
Robert T. Schoen, MD

From Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.

Abstract

In the past 20 years, remarkable strides have been made toward understanding and preventing Lyme disease in humans. In December 1998, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a recombinant outer surface protein A vaccine against Lyme disease (LYMErix, SmithKline Beecham, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). The vaccine, which is derived from a lipidated outer surface protein of the causative spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, is important because it may decrease the morbidity and financial costs associated with Lyme disease. Its mechanism is unique because it works inside the tick vector itself, preventing the human from becoming infected.

Article and Author Information

Requests for Single Reprints: Wendy Todaro Thanassi, MD, Section of Emergency Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, 464 Congress Avenue, New Haven, CT 06519.
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Current Author Addresses: Dr. Thanassi: Section of Emergency Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, 464 Congress Avenue, New Haven, CT 06519.
Dr. Schoen: Section of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, 60 Temple Street, Suite 6A, New Haven, CT 06510.