Over 10 diseases can be transmitted by tick bites. The most well-known is Lyme disease, caused by a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi. In the past, vaccines have successfully been developed to specifically target this Lyme disease bacterium. However, this new vaccine candidate takes a different approach, using mRNA technology to target the tick itself. This particular vaccine directs cells to produce a number of proteins found in the saliva of the black-legged tick Ixodes scapularis. This vaccine is unique in the way it targets a carrier of a pathogen rather than the pathogen itself. This means it should offer a broad-based protection from all kinds of tick-induced disease and not just a single pathogen. “When you feel a mosquito bite, you swat it. With the vaccine, there is redness and likely an itch so you can recognize that you have been bitten and can pull the tick off quickly, before it has the ability to transmit B. burgdorferi.”

2022-02-24: A gene drive might be an alternative:

This approach is already being applied to malaria-transmitting mosquitoes, but scientists have run into a wall trying to use CRISPR to prevent tick-borne diseases — or, more accurately, a hard shell. The problem is that scientists need to be able to insert their CRISPR system into ticks when they’re at the embryo stage. But ticks grow in eggs coated in a hard wax, which can literally shatter the glass needles used for injections. “Previously, no lab has demonstrated genome modification is possible in ticks. Some considered this too technically difficult to accomplish.” They have now demonstrated 2 different techniques that make gene editing a viable option for fighting tick-borne diseases. So far, all we know is that it’s possible to get a CRISPR system into ticks — we still don’t know what edits, if any, can prevent the spread of tick-borne diseases.

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