Lyme Aid

Summertime and the living is not easy where Lyme disease is on the rise. Black-legged ticks that carry the disease are now in 30 countries and half of all U.S. counties, mainly from the Northeast to the Midwest. Some blame the increase on warming from climate change.

     You might see a bull's-eye rash swelling around the bacteria left by a tick bite, but symptoms listed at LymeDisease.org vary and complicate diagnosis. Patients may have severe migraines, muscle spasms, and even seem to have ALS. Blood tests are worthless. The bacteria head for body tissues where they can spread to muscles, nerves, the brain, and heart before the needed early treatment with antibiotics is begun. New antibody tests are being developed.

     Since ticks pick up Lyme disease by feeding on white-footed mice, there are efforts to combat the disease by developing ways to kill ticks in the yards and nesting materials mice inhabit and to prevent mice from carrying the disease. Gene editing might be able to make mice less tasty to ticks or to immunize mice from tick-carrying bacteria.

     In summer, it's far more fun to catch and release fireflies than to be caught by ticks...mosquitoes and wasps.