3 ms·
Just some observations: - In my country, Lithuania, tick-born diseases have been increasingly becoming a major problem. We had them for some time, but I think
by rmind 7y ago
Just some observations:
- In my country, Lithuania, tick-born diseases have been increasingly becoming a major problem. We had them for some time, but I think the problem has been amplified by the climate change in the last few decades. At least, the summers got hotter and the winters certainly start later than they used to in my childhood.
- Ironically, cleaner environment and stricter EU regulations on the use of pesticides and other chemical compounds also played a role: tick population is flourishing. The government doesn't have or at least cannot come up with some means to control it. Spraying forests with some chemical compounds would certainly produce serious side effects and would do more harm than good (unless something new gets invented). There have been some discussions in the parliament to raise the issue at the EU level.
- There are essentially two main diseases: tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) and Lyme disease. They are both very nasty. There is a vaccine from TBE. Unfortunately, vaccination is not universally funded or compensated by the government. Only for certain groups (forest rangers, members of the armed forces, etc). Nevertheless, a lot of people
(including myself) get vaccinated and it's one of the most popular vaccines.
- Apparently, there is also a vaccine from the Lyme disease: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyme_disease#Vaccination https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyme_disease#Vaccination . In 2000s, it was tried in the US, but then subsequently pulled out from the market. It is unclear whether the vaccine really had side effects or it was due to anti-vaxxers.
IMO, more effort should be put on: 1) large scale vaccination 2) research on possibilities to control the tick populations.
- EForEndeavour 7y agoIn 2016, the US FDA approved a canine Lyme vaccine called VANGUARD crLyme [1], and the principal investigator behind its development (Richard Marconi) is working toward a human vaccine [2], so there's hope; availability is still probably years away. [1] https://www.zoetisus.com/products/dogs/vanguard-crlyme/ https://www.zoetisus.com/products/dogs/vanguard-crlyme/ [2] https://news.vcu.edu/article/VCU_researcher_develops_Lyme_disease_diagnostic_and_comes_closer https://news.vcu.edu/article/VCU_researcher_develops_Lyme_di...