By Terri McCormick

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a press release on September 28 announcing nearly $3 million in new federal funding to test innovative approaches to controlling ticks and reducing Lyme disease, alpha-gal syndrome and other tick-borne illnesses.

The funding, provided through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH), will support research at two CDC Centers of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases: the New England Center of Excellence in Vector-borne Diseases and the Midwest Center of Excellence for Vector-Borne Disease.

The projects will take a different approach from the personal prevention measures most people are familiar with. Instead of relying solely on repellents, protective clothing and tick checks, researchers will test ways to target ticks while they are feeding on wildlife.

Targeting ticks on deer

Researchers will test deer feed treated with acaricides, substances designed to kill ticks. The goal is to kill or impair ticks feeding on deer before adult females complete their blood meal and lay eggs, potentially reducing future tick populations.

New “super baits” for rodents

A second project will test next-generation rodent bait systems containing acaricides, antibiotics or a combination of both.

HHS refers to the combined approach as “super baits.” Researchers hope the strategy can both kill ticks feeding on rodents and reduce the pathogens carried by infected animals, ultimately decreasing the number of infected ticks in the environment.

A growing public health threat

In its press release, HHS described tick-borne diseases as a growing public health threat. The agency estimates that nearly 31 million Americans may be bitten by ticks each year and that more than half a million Americans are diagnosed with tick-borne diseases annually. HHS also noted that ticks are expanding into new geographic areas.

The newly announced funding adds specific projects to the broader federal tick-control effort HHS announced earlier this year.

“Fewer ticks, fewer bites, and fewer Americans suffering from Lyme disease, alpha-gal syndrome, and other tickborne illnesses,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in announcing the funding.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services press release, September 28, 2026.