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HHS announces plan to reduce, better treat Lyme disease, alpha-gal syndrome
Meghan Holohan
Today at 4:29 p.m.
Tick-borne Disease
Lyme Disease
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.
Protecting against alpha-gal syndrome
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.
If that gets us one step closer to a better treatment for some of these conditions or more accessible, accurate testing then I think that’s a really good thing.
Ali Moresco
By 2035, HHS aims to reduce Lyme disease diagnoses by 25% of the number of cases from 2022.
The new initiative includes $2.5 million for new LymeX innovation challenges. These challenges offer awards in three areas—bolstering educational and public awareness campaigns, supporting new treatments based on current medications and treatment methods, and using artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce barriers to care and provide more information for patients.
The National Institutes of Health also is expected to work with companies that have products that could protect people from alpha-gal syndrome, a potentially deadly allergy to red meat and dairy that some develop after a bite from a lone star tick (and less frequently, from bites from blacklegged and western blacklegged ticks). About 500,000 Americans have alpha-gal syndrome, yet it could be underreported, says the CDC.
A decade ago, Ali Moresco experienced what her doctor thought was a “summer cold” after spending a week in Northern Michigan. She felt tired all the time and experienced brain fog and achy muscles and joints. Eventually, she was diagnosed as having Lyme disease. She says she feels “cautiously optimistic” by HHS’ plan.
“Commitments to research or science, support and dollars, I would be very excited about that,” Moresco, 33, of Nashville, tells CIDRAP News. “If that gets us one step closer to a better treatment for some of these conditions or more accessible, accurate testing then I think that’s a really good thing.”
HHS announces plan to reduce, better treat Lyme disease, alpha-gal syndrome
Meghan Holohan
Today at 4:29 p.m.
Tick-borne Disease
Lyme Disease
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.
Protecting against alpha-gal syndrome
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.
If that gets us one step closer to a better treatment for some of these conditions or more accessible, accurate testing then I think that’s a really good thing.
Ali Moresco
By 2035, HHS aims to reduce Lyme disease diagnoses by 25% of the number of cases from 2022.
The new initiative includes $2.5 million for new LymeX innovation challenges. These challenges offer awards in three areas—bolstering educational and public awareness campaigns, supporting new treatments based on current medications and treatment methods, and using artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce barriers to care and provide more information for patients.
The National Institutes of Health also is expected to work with companies that have products that could protect people from alpha-gal syndrome, a potentially deadly allergy to red meat and dairy that some develop after a bite from a lone star tick (and less frequently, from bites from blacklegged and western blacklegged ticks). About 500,000 Americans have alpha-gal syndrome, yet it could be underreported, says the CDC.
A decade ago, Ali Moresco experienced what her doctor thought was a “summer cold” after spending a week in Northern Michigan. She felt tired all the time and experienced brain fog and achy muscles and joints. Eventually, she was diagnosed as having Lyme disease. She says she feels “cautiously optimistic” by HHS’ plan.
“Commitments to research or science, support and dollars, I would be very excited about that,” Moresco, 33, of Nashville, tells CIDRAP News. “If that gets us one step closer to a better treatment for some of these conditions or more accessible, accurate testing then I think that’s a really good thing.”