The $5 million fought for by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-4) to be included as a new appropriations in the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) under the Department of Defense Appropriations, was passed 12/18 by both Houses under the Omnibus Bill which was then signed into law by President Obama. The Omnibus bill funds the federal government agencies.
 

Smith's office informed the LDA regarding passage of the Omnibus, as the LDA has been actively pushing for such an inclusion in the CDMRP for a number of years, working with Smith's office on the issue. Lyme Monies in Defense Health Program

LDA Holiday Donation Certificates are now available! With your donation, you have the opportunity to honor someone special. View Sample Certificates. A Holiday Certificate will be sent via email to you or to the person to be honored, depending on your preference. The Holiday Certificate can be printed and given as a gift. You can print a smaller size to be hung on a holiday tree or as holiday decoration.  

 

Your donation will help to continue our current programs, to develop new materials/services to meet the increasing needs of increasing disease burden, and to fund research to find a cure for this debilitating disease. Please join us in this fight. Working together, we can help our states, communities, families, friends, and neighbors. 

All donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.  Donate Today

These two images feature the American dog tick, Dermacentor variabilis. The first image shows an unengorged female (and male) alongside a gravid (mated and replete) female that is ovipositing (laying eggs). She will lay from 4,000 to 6,000 eggs before dying. In the Northeast United States, these eggs usually hatch in late summer. The gravid female was obtained from an anesthetized black bear in New Jersey during the spring bear monitoring program run by the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife.

D. variabilis is the vector of Rickettsia rickettsii, the agent of Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF), in the Eastern and Southeastern United States. Humans usually contract the agent of RMSF from the bite of adult American dog ticks. It is interesting to note that under some circumstances, the agent is transmitted transovarially to the tick eggs and thus the larvae, which are very small (~ 1 mm) and only have six legs, hatch infected (see photo on left). Fortunately, there is a very low infection prevalence in adult D. variabilis (~ 1% or less) in most endemic areas. The ecology of RMSF is ill-defined throughout its range. There were 128 cases of RMSF reported in NJ in 2012.

D. variabilis can also transmit the agent of tularemia (Francisella tularensis) and the toxin responsible for tick paralysis.

Blacklegged ticks (deer ticks) are also found on bears.