Lyme disease is caused by a bacterial organism, Borrelia burgdorferi . It is carried by Ixodes species of ticks and may have other tick or insect carriers. Your vet can tell you whether it is necessary to protect against this disease in your area.

There is a new Lyme bacterin on the market that Rhone-Merieux has produced using recombinant gene techniques. This bacterin only uses a portion of the bacteria which the body defences recognize and form antibodies against. Because the whole Lyme bacteria is not present, it appears that there will not be the problem of the vaccine causing symptoms of Lyme disease. In addition, this bacterin does have a validated one year duration of immunity. It is a new product and like all new products there is a period when everyone looks hard for previously unknown reactions but if "vaccination" against Lyme disease seems necessary in your area, I'd definitely use this one.