Biting Back: How CRISPR-Edited Mice Could Stop the Lyme Disease Plague
Lyme Disease on the Rise – And Why Mice Matter Lyme disease is often called a “plague” on Nantucket. The tiny Massachusetts island, famed for its beaches, has one of the nation’s highest infection rates media.mit.edu. About 15% of Nantucket’s residents have contracted Lyme disease, which causes fevers, rashes, swollen joints, and even nerve damage cbsnews.com cbsnews.com. The culprit is a spiral-shaped bacteria (Borrelia burgdorferi) spread by black-legged ticks, commonly known as deer ticks. But while deer and ticks get most of the blame, scientists point to a different host at the heart of Lyme’s spread: the white-footed mouse cbsnews.com.
