A shot to prevent Lyme disease could be on its way

This is good news.  I asked my doctor a several years ago about the lymerix vaccine, but my doctor said he could not recommend it due to its side effects.  I didn’t look into it any further.

59 out of 1.4 million?  That’s statistically insignificant…

I got the original lymerix vaccine but was not able to get the followups. Living in SE Mn I would immediately sign up if a new vaccine becomes available.

As far as I know theres not much Lyme yet on the west coast but I would REALLY still like to get something like this!

As far as I know theres not much Lyme yet on the west coast

But I’ve known several West Coasters who were debilitated by too-long undiagnosed Lyme because their doctors had the same opinion. Now some local docs have gone too far the other direction, prescribing prophylactic antibiotics (inappropriately) for me after tick bites. Unfortunately, nuking my gut microbiome created other serious years-long problems.

I’m a big believer in permethrin-treated clothing now. Hope vaccines or antibodies get (re)-approved soon.

— Rex

Is it always very debilitating or can Lyme end up being a sort of under the radar thing? I have definitely been bitten by many ticks but never been tested

I had a tick-borne disease infection in the 1990s that went undiagnosed for two years. Kidney enzyme issues, weight loss, neck pain, CFS-like symptoms. I was tested for Lyme eventually (I had done a long AT section-hike and had been bitten multiple times there), but was finally diagnosed with Colorado Tick Fever, most likely from a tick bite I received on a routine overnighter in a wilderness area near Bozeman (I’m pretty J about keeping ticks that bite me and monitoring my bite history, so we were able to narrow it down a bit).

Not a fan of permethrin-treated clothing or DEET, especially when sweating (permethrin can probably enter skin cells in the presence of sweat, not so much in a dry environment) but I get the benefits. I’d rather get the vax, I think, if the problematic side effect incidence % is that low.

I spray permethrin on the outside of pants.  Both sides of gaiters.  Try to keep it away from my skin even though it’s supposed to be safe

Over the last 5 years or so I’ve got several ticks that stayed on me for a couple days (unbeknownst to me).  It seems to have an increasing reaction over time – swelling of the area.  I suspect I’m getting sensitized so it has more of a reaction.  I’m trying to be more diligent about treating clothing

Not a fan of permethrin-treated clothing or DEET, especially when sweating (permethrin can probably enter skin cells in the presence of sweat, not so much in a dry environment)…

Any evidence to support that?  If so, how risky might it be compared to Lyme?

Isn’t permethrin used for lice treatment? Directly on hair and skin. I wouldn’t worry too much about a tiny bit getting on your skin, even in a formulation designed for clothing.

I’ve seen numerous studies or reports thereof that fail to find any deleterious effects of Permethrin-treated clothing, which is why I asked Ryan if he has any evidence to support his concerns.  From what I’ve seen, the Permethrin-vs-Lyme risk analysis is very easy.

I’m not overly concerned about using permethrin-treated clothing from a risk standpoint as a backpacker who may only wear it a few days or weeks out of the year. The cumulative dosage of permethrin entering the bloodstream is too low for me to worry about.

But the idea that we use a synthetic pyrethroid known for human toxicity at higher dosages is mildly unsettling (i.e., it doesn’t keep me awake at night).

The sweat data came out of Hubert Snodgrass’s lab in the early 1990s, I saw it presented at DOD technology conference in a seminar session on military clothing technology. Snodgrass was a toxicologist with the US Army, I think. I wasn’t suggesting that the clothing was toxic per se, only that the presence of sweat increased dermal absorption of permethrin.

permethrin-treated clothing

There’s the soak in treatment and then spray on which doesn’t last as long.  I figure that it is not as harmful when applying the spray-on to outside facing fabric (and letting it dry), though there’s always the waist-band and other high sweat areas.

On the PCT coming out of the Mojave Dam area (hiked through overgrown grass in a high water year), a tick got on me and started burrowing.   Luckily there was a hotel with chlorinated pool and hot tub at I-15 to soak after knifing said tick out.   No effects but never again.  I’ll use the spray on treatment on outward facing fabric … even out west (besides California I’ve had a tick try to crawl up my leg in New Mexico).