Sunny weather? It’s here. Crowded beaches? Check. Now, for what has lately become the third sure sign of New England summer: Killjoywarningsfrom health officials about the risk of Lyme disease, the tick-borne malady that may causefatigue, headaches, joint pain, and other ailments.
The Commonwealth has some of the highest rates in the United States, and infected Ixodes ticks have been found in every municipality in the Commonwealth — urban asphalt jungles included — according to recent reporting by the Globe’s Matt Rocheleau.
In fact, federal figures compiled over a five-year period show that the highest average annual per capita rate for Lyme disease in the United States was in Nantucket County, with 501 confirmed and probable cases for each 100,000 residents from 2010 to 2015. Dukes County, home to Martha’s Vineyard, ranks fifth. That’s sobering evidence indeed that Lyme, first recognized in Connecticut in 1977, has spread to become a full-blown public health crisis in Massachusetts.
By all rights, Massachusetts could also be the place where researchers, venture philanthropists, private industry, and government officials team up to find a solution — one that will ultimately benefit other states where Lyme is entrenched. Achieving that demands coordination, new funding, and resolve. But the soaring caseload makes it clear that the time is right for disruption, especially in the perennially underappreciated field of infectious disease research.
Unfortunately, efforts to develop a Lyme disease shot foundered in 2002, when SmithKlineBeecham pulled an effectivevaccine from the market. The need for three shots in a single year, fearedlinks to arthritis, and the spread of unfounded anti-vaccine conspiracy theories have most likely left a permanent taint on the idea of a vaccine for the long term, researchers believe. “The state of play is not optimal,’’ says Dr. Sam Telford, an infectious disease researcher at Tufts University.
There’s another option, however, one that seems tantalizingly close. Researchers at UMass Medical School in Worcester have identified a human monoclonal antibody that could defend against Lyme disease with just oneannual dose. The medicine, called Lyme PrEP, involves injection of a single protective antibody. It blocks the Lyme-causing bacteria in the tick after it bites — before it can get into the bloodstream.
“There’s definitely a hunger for a medicine that is preventive,’’ says Dr. Mark Klempner, a professor of medicine at UMass Medical School in Worcester. Last year, Dr. Klempner, who is also executive vice chancellor of MassBiologics at UMass, told state legislators that it would take about $3.25 million to launch a phase 1 clinical trial, the next step in developing a preventive treatment.
In fact, MassBiologics seems like the perfect home for an accelerated, collaborative effort to test the safety of Lyme PrEP. Formerly an arm of the state Department of Public Health, MassBiologics was transferred by the Legislature in 1997 to UMass Medical School. The Bay State, home to one of the nation’s first hospitals, has often led the way in public health; now more than 100 years old, MassBiologics was a pioneer in developing and manufacturing vaccines as a nonprofit licensed by the federal Food and Drug Administration. In other words, there’s a model in place. Now all that it takes is collaborative will.
