Work

Evidence for Strain-Specific Immunity in Patients Treated for Early Lyme Disease

Year: 2014

Type: article

Abstract: Lyme disease, caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, is the most commonly reported vector-borne disease in the United States. Many patients treated for early Lyme disease incur another infection in subsequent years, suggesting that previous exposure to B. burgdorferi may not elicit a protective immune response. However, identical strains are almost never detected from patients who have been infected multiple times, suggesting that B. burgdorferi exposure may elicit strain-specific immunity. Probabilistic and simulation models assuming biologically realistic data derived from patients in the northeastern United States suggest that patients treated for early Lyme disease develop protective immunity that is strain specific and lasts for at least 6 years.

Source: Infection and Immunity

DOI: 10.1128/iai.01451-13

Authors: Camilo E. Khatchikian, Robert B. Nadelman, John Nowakowski, Ira Schwartz, Gary P. Wormser, Dustin Brisson

Institutions: University of Pennsylvania, New York Medical College

Language: English

Topic: Vector-borne infectious diseases

Subfield: Parasitology

Field: Immunology and Microbiology

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases