FDA Reviewing Lyme Vaccine

The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing a first-of-its-kind Lyme disease vaccine created by a UCI professor, Dr. Alan Barbour.

Discovered in 1975, Lyme disease can lead to arthritis and some nervous system disorders if untreated. Death from Lyme disease is rare.

In California, the disease often strikes hikers bitten by the Western black-legged tick, which is smaller than a common tick found on dogs.

Cases reached a record high of 16,000 nationally in 1996.

The vaccine, given preliminary approval by the FDA, could help reduce those numbers.

The firm of SmithKline Beecham is developing the vaccine, to which Barbour holds the patent.