The First At-Home Test for Infected Ticks Could Improve Lyme Disease Diagnosis

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Of the estimated 899 species of ticks worldwide, about 90 are found in the continental U.S.; however, only four species are responsible for most of the infections found in the U.S. today.<br>Tomasz Klejdysz/Getty Images

Research shows that more than 31 million Americans—or nearly one in ten people—experience a tick bite every year. While some tick bites can be harmless, these parasitic arachnids that feed on both animals and people can transmit dozens of diseases in as little as 36 to 48 hours, including anaplasmosis, babesiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, alpha-gal syndrome and Lyme disease.

This spring, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a spike in tick-borne-illness-related emergency room visits, with Lyme disease being the most common diagnosis. An estimated 476,000 patients are treated each year for Lyme disease, concentrated in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Upper Midwest, thanks to the prevalence of its carrier: blacklegged ticks.

Erin Dawicki is no stranger to the increase in tick-borne illnesses, especially in New England where she resides. For the past few years, the pediatric physician associate in Boston has experienced a steady uptick in kids showing up in her office with “huge swollen joints and zero trauma,” she says—symptoms that signal Lyme arthritis, a condition that develops anywhere from one to a few months after an untreated tick bite.

Lyme disease is easiest to treat during its early, or acute, stage, which makes quick tick identification critical for treatment. Most experience a “bull’s-eye” rash at the site of the bite, along with other symptoms, including fever, chills, headache, fatigue, muscle and joint aches, swollen lymph nodes, and neck stiffness. While the most common treatment is a 10- to 14-day course of antibiotics, the CDC also recommends a single 200-milligram dose of doxycycline within a 72-hour prophylactic window, if the tick had been attached for 36 hours, in areas where Lyme disease reports are high.

Unfortunately, even treated, some people experience post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, previously known as “chronic Lyme disease.” This diagnosis comes with persistent fatigue, musculoskeletal pain or cognitive difficulties months after completing the appropriate antibiotic treatment. According to the CDC, time, and not additional antibiotics, is needed to overcome the syndrome.

Because early treatment is critical for recovery, Dawicki’s mode of course is to complete a blood test while also prescribing antibiotics before even obtaining an official Lyme disease diagnosis. It bothers her that she has to “blanket prescribe because the risk of Lyme is so high,” she says, thus contributing to the growing antibiotic resistance health crisis within the United States.

Dawicki’s “aha moment” came during a health care entrepreneurship course she took as a MIT Sloan fellow during her MBA program in 2024. Students selected one of three innovation tracks—Lyme disease, pharmaceuticals or Parkinson’s disease—to develop and pitch an original idea. From there, classmates formed collaborative teams to advance the strongest concepts.

“I joined the class late and was assigned Lyme disease,” explains Dawicki. “Initially, my plan was to just check the box on the course, but the morning the pitches were due, an idea popped into my head.”

So often her patients call her to report they have found a tick on their child. They’re worried and want to know the best course of action, but they can’t afford to come in for an office visit. As a medical professional, Dawicki understands the variables in health care accessibility, having patients concerned about the cost of care or taking time off work for an appointment, especially when the tick in question may not even be disease-carrying.

“So, I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if they could just test the tick at home, and then they know immediately if it’s Lyme-infected?” Dawicki says.

Fun fact: The U.S. National Tick Collection is the largest continuously curated collection of ticks in the world

More than one million tick specimens are housed at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. The collection, on loan from the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, is an important resource for researchers studying the transmission of tick-borne illnesses.

Why the uptick in ticks?

Of the estimated 899 species of ticks worldwide, about 90 are found in the continental U.S.; however, only four species are responsible for most of the infections found in the U.S. today. Found across the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Upper Midwest and Southeast, the blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis, is the most widespread of the tick species. It carries Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, Powassan virus and Borrelia miyamotoi disease. The western blacklegged tick,...