Follow the Research Trail

Strain-specific Lyme disease immunity lasts for years 

(Read article here)

Date:

April 2, 2014

Source:

University of Pennsylvania

Summary:

Lyme disease, if not treated promptly with antibiotics, can become a lingering problem for those infected. But a new study led by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania has some brighter news: Once infected with a particular strain of the disease-causing bacteria, humans appear to develop immunity against that strain that can last six to nine years.

"At least 16 different strains of the Lyme disease bacterium have been shown to infect humans in the United States" 

I have seen this sort of stats used all over the place but have not seen a source. 

Was it the CDC that said that? Why then are we only being tested for one strain?

Titer tests would then show a positive result of exposure and therefore could be confused with an active infection, this also makes the Elisa test even more unreliable. Somehow these reports are not comforting to me, they only raise more questions.

Now HERE'S why this study was done in the first place and also keep in mind that depending on what the sponsor is looking for, the outcome usually favors what that sponsor is looking for.

"The fact that the strain-specific immunity is lasting has implications for vaccine design. If you could make a vaccine that covers several of these strains," Brisson said, "you could substantially reduce the probability of infection in vaccinated people. The vaccine could last several years, perhaps requiring a booster once every several years."

Pffft!! All of that research money being spent on their "easily treated" and "hard to catch" disease. 

I decided to see who helped sponsor the study/research and found it had 2 sources of funding, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and The Burroughs Wellcome Fund.  Unlikely NIH has an agenda so I looked into the other one.

Here's the Burroughs websites "About" section:
http://www.bwfund.org/about

"In 1993, a generous gift from the Wellcome Trust in the United Kingdom, enabled BWF to become fully independent from the company, which was acquired by Glaxo in 1995. BWF has no affiliation with any corporation."

Glaxo is NOT a corporation? I didn't know...........

THEN we looked at the Glaxo websites "About" section 

http://www.gsk.com/about-us.html

"An overview of what GSK does worldwide including information on our three main business areas: Pharmaceuticals, Vaccines and Consumer Healthcare"

Remember above when the Burroughs Wellcome Fund stated they aren't affiliated with any corporation? Glaxo merged with BWF right?
Here's the link to read up on the Glaxo Corporation 

Corporate Executive Team | About us | GlaxoSmithKlinewww.gsk.com
"Information on what we can offer you as an alliance partner, from business development and contract services, to academic collaborations and investment."