Vaccinations & Antibodies

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Antic seems like the perfect surname for this dude.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Indirectly COVID related, an interesting article on mRNA vaccine development for other illnesses.

https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Why-Yale-researcher-says-his-Lyme-vaccine-is-16675814.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=test&utm_campaign=CT_NHR_MorningBriefing&sid=5baaacf72ddf9c545d737065

Why Yale researcher says his Lyme vaccine is first of its kind
Jordan Nathaniel Fenster
Dec. 5, 2021
Updated: Dec. 5, 2021 4:40 p.m.

Yale University researcher Erol Fikrig says the Lyme disease vaccine he's developing is the first of its kind in two ways.

Unlike any previous attempt to vaccinate against Lyme, it's based on mRNA technology, the same used to build the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines developed to fight COVID.

But to Fikrig, that is not the most interesting part. The real breakthrough, Fikrig says, is that his vaccine is the first that does not target the disease itself.

"Every vaccine that you and I have had, every vaccine that has ever been made, is directed against the pathogen, against a microbe," he said. "This is the first example of a vaccine against an infectious disease that does not target a microbe."

Instead, the vaccine being developed by Fikrig and his team targets the disease carrier — in this case, the deer ticks that transmit the disease.

More specifically, the vaccine targets the tick's saliva, and exploits the time it takes for the Lyme bacteria to go from the tick into your bloodstream.

Unlike with mosquito-borne illnesses like malaria, transmission of Lyme is not fast. In fact, it takes about two days.

"When it bites you, it feeds for about four to five days. And it really starts engorging, taking the blood meal, at about 24 to 48 hours," Fikrig said.

All the while, the bacteria that causes Lyme, a spirochete called Borrelia burgdorferi, "lives inside the tick gut, and it stays there sort of sleeping, resting," Fikrig said.

"In response to the blood meal, it gets activated, then it moves out," he said. "It doesn't move out of the tick until about day one or day two. So there's a window of one to two days where the tick is attaching to you, feeding, but the spirochete has not yet been transmitted."

When a mosquito bites, it injects a proboscis, and you feel it immediately, Fikrig explained. The response is usually to slap the bug in the hopes of dislodging it. Ticks do the same, inserting something called a "hypostome," but you don't feel it.

"Most likely, it's because when ticks bite you, they inject salivary components that have the ability to numb you locally," he said. "That's part of it. That's one of the hypotheses, and it's a likely one."

Fikrig's vaccine does two things: It takes the silencer off the tick bite, making it red and itchy before the bacteria has the chance to move from the tick to a new host, and makes the ticks feed poorly and fall off the body far sooner.

"I don't think that's as important as identifying redness, and recognizing the tick bite, because I've never heard of anybody who's noticed the tick on them and hasn't pulled it off within three, four minutes," he said.

Fikrig had been investigating what he called "tick resistance" for more than a decade with limited success. It wasn't until mRNA technology became available that his breakthrough happened.

"We've been using mRNA since 2019, about eight months before the pandemic occurred," he said.

The idea of tick resistance is an old one. Sixty years ago, a researcher named Bill Trager noticed that animals develop resistance to tick bites. Trager's research, like Fikrig's, involved intentionally putting ticks on guinea pigs.

"He let them feed, and they all fed happily. He came back a month later, put another bunch of 30 ticks on those same guinea pigs, they fed poorly," Fikrig said of Trager. "And he came back another month later, none of them fed at all. So animals naturally acquire tick resistance."

The question then became how does resistance occur, biologically, and how to exploit it.

"The hypothesis we had is that when a tick bites you, it secretes saliva to the bite site, and your body develops an immune response to that saliva," Fikrig said. "So, if we could reproduce that by taking salivary protein targets and putting them in an mRNA vaccine, that might elicit the same phenomenon."

Fikrig is leaving commercial development of his vaccine, including human trials, to private interests. He's now hoping to use the same strategy to fight other slow transmitting tick-borne illnesses, like babeosis.

The more difficult proposition is whether his strategy can be used to fight fast transmitting tick-borne illnesses, like powassan or anaplasmosis, which are also found in Connecticut.

"They are transmitted within usually 30 minutes," Fikrig said. "We're going to try those as well. My expectation is it will not work against those because unless the tick recognition is seconds or minutes, I don't think it will work against those."

There is some hope, though. Longer term, Fikrig is developing a different strategy, also based on mRNA technology, to fight mosquito-borne illnesses like dengue and malaria. In that case, the method is to make the mosquito saliva less likely to infect human plasma.

If that is successful, it might mean a way to fight fast-transmitting illnesses borne by both ticks and mosquitoes.

"We're working on ways to target mosquito salivate proteins that influence the bite site to enhance plasmodium infectivity," he said. "By blocking that we hope to reduce malaria. So we're addressing malaria, but the principle is somewhat different."

Written By
Jordan Nathaniel Fenster




Longest running high school football rivalries in CT
Some of the longest running high school football rivalries in the country are right here in Connecticut, many of which are played on Thanksgiving.

[pacearrow02]

https://mobile.twitter.com/hollyanndoan/status/1467814530545823750

Is this real?  Saw Rogan retweeted so hopefully he's not spreading a fake story but if Canada shuts down Moderna for young males shouldn't we also?

[forgetful]

https://mobile.twitter.com/hollyanndoan/status/1467814530545823750

Is this real?  Saw Rogan retweeted so hopefully he's not spreading a fake story but if Canada shuts down Moderna for young males shouldn't we also?

Google, or even reading the replies to the tweet you linked are your friend.

Based on google, and the link to the Canada health authorities in the responses to that tweet indicate it is false.

[pacearrow02]

Google, or even reading the replies to the tweet you linked are your friend.

Based on google, and the link to the Canada health authorities in the responses to that tweet indicate it is false.

I don't read comments.  Not a good look for Rogan to be retweeting false information.

[rocky_warrior]

I don't read comments.  Not a good look for Rogan to be retweeting false information.

Hah, only Pace would count on a comedian/MMA guy for his scientific info.

[pacearrow02]

Hah, only Pace would count on a comedian/MMA guy for his scientific info.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/torontosun.com/news/provincial/ontario-now-recommending-against-moderna-vaccine-for-men-18-24-years-old/wcm/014d7982-9eb0-444d-baba-b3a95b6b4f8e/amp/

https://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/publichealth/coronavirus/docs/vaccine/COVID-19_vaccination_rec_special_populations.pdf

He seems to be right. 

[pbiflyer]

Hah, only Pace would count on a comedian/MMA guy for his scientific info.

I think it's pretty cool Aaron Rodgers participates in scoop.

[rocky_warrior]

He seems to be right.

That article is from September, and the PDF only says preferential recommendation for Pfizer.  I'm not sure what new information you think you've brought up here.

[pacearrow02]

That article is from September, and the PDF only says preferential recommendation for Pfizer.  I'm not sure what new information you think you've brought up here.

It was new to me so if I missed it being discussed here lo siento!

[forgetful]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/torontosun.com/news/provincial/ontario-now-recommending-against-moderna-vaccine-for-men-18-24-years-old/wcm/014d7982-9eb0-444d-baba-b3a95b6b4f8e/amp/

https://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/publichealth/coronavirus/docs/vaccine/COVID-19_vaccination_rec_special_populations.pdf

He seems to be right.

You do know that Ontario isn't all of Canada right? Canada did not shut anything down for young men.

[pacearrow02]

You do know that Ontario isn't all of Canada right? Canada did not shut anything down for young men.

I didn't realize Canada was more then just Ontario, thanks for that.

https://mobile.twitter.com/MSmelkinsonPhD/status/1468048748244877312

[Warriors4ever]

https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2021/12/06/covid-19-omicron-variant-south-africa-natural-infection-karim-keilar-newday-intl-ldn-vpx.cnn

South African epidemiologist says that it appears that having had Covid before does not protect against Omicron variant. Not enough experience yet to give an opinion on vaccine effect.

[🏀]

Imagine being the guy constantly trying to tell 4.2 billion people have made the wrong choice to get vaccinated.

[pacearrow02]

Imagine being the guy constantly trying to tell 4.2 billion people have made the wrong choice to get vaccinated.

I'm one of those 4.2 billion and never said it was a mistake.  I can just understand why someone who has natural immunity doesn't want to get it and I don't believe they should have to too keep their job, travel, etc.

[The Sultan]

The gap between case rates and death rates between blue counties and red counties is widening.

https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/fox-news-is-killing-us-here-are-the

[jesmu84]

I'm one of those 4.2 billion and never said it was a mistake.  I can just understand why someone who has natural immunity doesn't want to get it and I don't believe they should have to too keep their job, travel, etc.

You can travel if you demonstrate recent recovery from infection. You need to get vax if it's been a while as immunity wanes.

But keep trying.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

The gap between case rates and death rates between blue counties and red counties is widening.

https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/fox-news-is-killing-us-here-are-the

Thanks for that link Sultan.

This stuck out to me:

"The most extraordinary difference may be that just 3% of unvaccinated Republicans believe that getting vaccinated is a collective responsibility (compared to 26% of vaxxed Republicans and 81% of vaxxed Dems). The inherent nature of COVID is that it transfers from one person to another. By definition, the choices we make as individuals affect those around us. But almost no unvaccinated Republicans agree that they have some responsibility to their community in this domain."

[reinko]

Once again, shoutout to home county, Montgomery County, MD, highest fully vaccinated rate for people 12+, 93%

💥

[statnik]

I'm one of those 4.2 billion and never said it was a mistake.  I can just understand why someone who has natural immunity doesn't want to get it and I don't believe they should have to too keep their job, travel, etc.

Yes, ultimately this is the view of a majority of people who will be labeled anti-vax most likely.  They support decision making based on your personal risk assessment.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Yes, ultimately this is the view of a majority of people who will be labeled anti-vax most likely.  They support decision making based on your personal risk assessment....and their lack of giving a sh!t on how they affect other people.

Fixed

[Hards Alumni]

Yes, ultimately this is the view of a majority of people who will be labeled anti-vax most likely.  They support decision making based on your personal risk assessment.

I love libertarian brain rot.

[jficke13]

I love libertarian brain rot.

Saw a good assessment of libertarians on twitter (paraphrasing so I may not get it quite right):

libertarians are like housecats, they both fiercely claim their independence while simultaneously being utterly dependent on a system they neither acknowledge nor comprehend.

[tower912]

Line of the day by the head of a health care organization holding a press conference about the lack of available beds and the burnout of his employees.....

"Get vaccinated or get COVID."

[Skatastrophy]

Once again, shoutout to home county, Montgomery County, MD, highest fully vaccinated rate for people 12+, 93%

💥

That's impressive, you can get back to licking sneeze guards again (if you're into that sort of thing)!