PROTECTION AGAINST ANTIGENICALLY VARIABLE BORRELIA-BURGDORFERI CONFERRED BY RECOMBINANT VACCINES

Due to local variation in the antigenicity of the agent of Lyme diseas e (Borrelia burgdorferi), a vaccine derived from any one isolate of th is spirochete may fail to protect against the heterogeneous population of organisms that may be present in an enzootic focus. Accordingly, w e determined whether antigenically variable spirochetes delivered by n aturally infected ticks, collected from a site where transmission is i ntense, may fail to infect mice actively immunized with recombinant gl utathione transferase outer surface fusion proteins A or B (OspA and O spB). Virtually all mice vaccinated by either immunogen appeared not t o become infected, as determined by culture or histopathology of their tissues. We conclude that Osp vaccination of mice effectively prevent s infection by the agent of Lyme disease in a simulated natural cycle of transmission.