News Animals

How a new Lyme vaccine for mice may protect people

The vaccine aims to disrupt the Lyme cycle before ticks ever bite humans

A close up photo of a tiny brown mouse poking the top half of its body out of a hole in a tree.

A new, edible vaccine neutralizes Lyme-causing bacteria in white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus).

Bill Draker/imageBROKER/Getty Images Plus

By Rebecca Dzombak

A vaccine to fight Lyme disease, decades in the making, has received a temporary green light from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But it’s not for people — it’s for mice.

The vaccine isn’t a rodent-sized injection, which wouldn’t work for targeting large populations quickly. Instead, it’s coated onto edible, nutrition-free pellets that mice gobble up.