New Vaccines Target Ticks, Not Disease

Researchers are exploring the possibility of preventing tick-borne diseases by developing vaccines against the tick vector rather than against the pathogenic microorganisms that actually cause the disease. Ticks harbor the causative agents for several serious diseases of animals and humans, including Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Ehrlichiosis and relapsing fever. The research was described in a presentation given during the spring meeting of the Society for General Microbiology held at the University of Warwick (UK).

"A new solution to controlling tick-borne diseases is to develop vaccines against the ticks and not the microbes that cause the diseases. We have experimental vaccines containing molecules found on the tick's gut wall, which prevent the digestion of the blood meal and stop females from laying their eggs,” says Dr. Olivier Sparagano of Newcastle University (England).

So far it has been shown that the prototype vaccines reduce the fertility of female ticks and lessen the chances of survival of their larvae. Lowering the number of ticks will reduce the risk of animals and humans coming in contact with the disease-bearing arthropods. Dr. Sparagano warned that changes in climate are making Great Britain more suitable for ticks, and that incidence of tick-borne diseases are on the increase. He stressed that the import of ticks from southern Europe, Africa, and Asia should be prevented as far as possible while new methods for controlling the spread of tick-borne diseases are being developed.




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Univ. of Newcastle upon Tyne