Lyme Disease

[bob]

Have any of you ever thought of getting a Lyme Disease Vaccination? My wife made me get mine. Our insurance would not cover the cost of the shot. She explained to her boss that it would be cheaper for the insurance company to pay for my shot, rather than pay for treatment if I contracted this. They agreed and I just payed $10 (co-pay) for each office visit. The vaccine is one shot a month for three months. Bob

 

[HOMER]

Never thought about that one. Is this a disease that is common in your area?<p>Homer

 

[plymouthvaliant73]

It is definitely worth paying $10 for this shot, the lyme disease spirochete bacteria is a cousin to the syphilis bacteria, the untreated secondary and tertiary stages are not pretty. Oral antibiotics can work in most cases in the early stage, thousands of dollars for intravenous antibiotic therapy later. Once the bacteria gets into your joints and does some damage to the cartilidge, there is no repair. Once it gets into your brain, no antibiotic will cross the blood-brain barrier. The vaccine will prevent infection in about 80% of the people using it. Continue to protect yourself from ticks even if you have the vaccine. There are at least two other tick-carried blood-borne diseases, no vaccine for those, and who knows how many tick diseases not yet discovered. Lyme disease was only discovered about 15 years ago. Ten bucks! Cheap!<br>