By Jackie Jadrnak Albuquerque, Albuquerque Journal
Many
people check with their doctors or nurses to see what immunizations
they need before taking off for a foreign country -- but how about
Connecticut or New York? You might want to consider getting a
Lyme disease vaccine before traveling to those states or others
in the Northeast, according to Dr. Felix Cerna, who specializes
in infectious diseases with Lovelace Health Systems.
You
won't need the shots if you spend all your time in urban areas,
but if hiking or camping are on your agenda, vaccination might
be wise, he said. Even spending time with friends and family in
suburban backyards can expose you to the illness, especially if
the deer population is thick in the area.
There
are a few catches, though. Immunization is not cheap, nor is it
100-percent effective, and it takes a year to get the entire series
of three shots. Also, the vaccinations are given only to adults
18 or older.
Cerna
said Lovelace charges $68 a shot. The second shot is given 30
days after the first, leading to 50-percent to 60-percent effectiveness,
he said. The third shot, given a year after the first, boosts
effectiveness to greater than 70 percent, he said.
If
you don't opt for vaccinations, other preventive measures include
wearing long sleeves and pants, spraying a tick repellent on your
shoes and pants, and inspecting your body daily and removing any
ticks immediately, he said. Generally, the tick has to be attached
for a couple of days to transmit the Lyme bacteria, he said. However,
sometimes very young ticks are hard to spot and many people who
develop the disease say they never noticed a tick bite.
No
one has caught Lyme disease in New Mexico, he said. However, a
handful of cases have been reported in New Mexicans who picked
up the disease elsewhere, he said.
Since
the vaccine has been tested only in the Northeast, no studies
have been done yet to show if it is effective against Lyme strains
in Europe, Asia or even western states such as California, according
to Cerna. Tests on lab animals have suggested it might protect
against some varieties common in other areas, but studies have
not been done on people, he said.
"We
don't know for how long the vaccine is effective," Cerna added.
"It may need to be boosted after an initial period." So far, studies
have followed people for a year after vaccination. Ongoing tests
will determine how high antibodies remain after a longer time.
The vaccine got approval from the Food and Drug Administration
last year.
The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 16,000
cases of Lyme disease were identified by 48 states in 1996. Since
1982, more than 99,000 cases have been reported.
Early
signs are a rash around the area of the tick bite, along with
flulike symptoms such as fever, chills and aches. These symptoms
might develop about a week after the tick bite, Cerna said. At
this point, the disease can be treated relatively easily with
antibiotics, he said.
If
not treated early, or if the treatment is unsuccessful, people
then can develop arthritis and nerve or heart problems. At that
stage, it can be difficult to treat, he said. Even if the bacteria
are killed, the body might have developed an autoimmune response
from the infection, he said.
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