Late last week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced new efforts to address Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses, including a pilot program to eradicate ticks on animals before they can bite people. 

As part of the pilot program, researchers at the New England Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases will work with community partners, including the Indian Health Service and the Wampanoag Tribe in Massachusetts, on ways to reduce the tick population and interrupt breeding with the hope that fewer ticks will lead to fewer tick-borne infections. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and HHS will helm this initiative. 

This year, there has been a spike in tick activity in much of the United States. In April, the CDC reported that in most areas of the country, the weekly rate of emergency department visits for tick bites was the highest since 2017. About 31 million Americans experience a tick bite annually, with about 476,000 people undergoing treatment for Lyme disease, the most common tick-borne illness, says the CDC. 

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the plan at a press conference in New Hampshire, which has been particularly hard hit by Lyme disease. 

“We are going after this disease at its source, driving faster diagnostics and new prevention strategies, and delivering the urgency and action Americans deserve,” Kennedy said in the press release. 

He also signaled his support for the reauthorization of the Kay Hagan Tick Act, named after US Sen. Kay Hagan, who died from Powassan virus. The law provided funding and a roadmap to tackle tick-borne illnesses and was first signed into law in 2019 following Hagan’s death.