Eradicating Lyme with Novel Antibiotics

One of the most effective ways to get rid of the Lyme bacterium in its wild hosts is to treat them with doxycycline. However, widespread use of doxycycline in animals runs the risk of causing the development of resistance—not just in the Lyme bacterium, but in other bacteria as well. Working together with Dr. Kim Lewis (Northeastern), we are developing narrow spectrum antibiotics to target the bacterium in the mouse reservoir.

Watch Dr. Linden Hu discuss how the laboratory is working to rid the wild of Lyme disease using novel antibiotics.

Killing ticks with targeted viruses

One of the best ways to reduce the number of Lyme disease cases is using insecticides to kill ticks. Spraying loads and loads of insecticides around the countryside isn’t ideal though. What if there was a way to kill ticks without using a chemical spray? Quentin, one of the scientists and the Tufts Lyme Disease Initiative, tells us about a bright idea to use a virus that will selectively kill ticks.

The Hunt for Powassan Virus

Powassan virus is a deadly virus carried by Ixodes ticks. It has been identified in ticks in the Northeast. Currently, human Powassan virus infections in the United States are rare, but there is no treatment for the disease.

Watch as the team from Maine Medical Research Institute tracks the virus in the wild.