Although the UK has seen a handful of cases, the risk remains very low.
As the rate of tick-borne diseases rises, vaccines that stop ticks in their tracks could be an essential preventive tool.
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The study found that ticks were unable to feed on guinea pigs vaccinated with an mRNA vaccine, preventing transmission of the pathogen that causes Lyme disease.
Ticks like this one, shown magnified with an electron microscope, can transmit bacteria that cause severe illnesses in humans.
Fernando Otalora-Luna/University of Richmond
What might look like a mild case of COVID-19 could actually be a bacterial infection from a tick bite, with potentially debilitating symptoms if it goes untreated.
Ticks could spread weaponized bacteria – but B. burgdorferi that causes Lyme isn’t one of them.
Kelvin Ma/Tufts University
Scientists know the bacterium that causes Lyme disease has been out in the wild since long before any biological weapons research could have focused on it. And that’s just for starters.
There’s a short window between when a tick bites and when it passes on bacteria or virus.
MSU Ag Communications, Courtesy Dr. Tina Nations
Tick-borne diseases are becoming more common in the United States. A public health entomologist outlines some of the lesser-known threats ticks pose to human health.