Project Lyme

Project Lyme’s mission is advancing solutions for Lyme and tick-borne diseases through education, research, advocacy, and patient support. Talk about Ticks.

Project Lyme is a global awareness organization dedicated to making Lyme disease a household name and tick prevention commonplace. Started by Heather Hearst, a mother, who was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 1986, Project Lyme was founded to raise awareness for prevention and early diagnosis of Lyme. Through her personal story, Hearst advocates the critical importance of talking about ticks and Lyme by demystifying, uniting and advocating for victims and organizations around the world. Help the Project Lyme awareness movement spread the word about Lyme prevention faster than ticks spread the disease. For more information, visit projectlyme.org

10/06/2026

A Lyme test that catches what standard tests miss? New research suggests it may be possible. 🔬

In the first 1–3 weeks of Lyme disease, standard two-tier tests pick up fewer than half of cases. That’s the same window when antibiotics work best.

A new Journal of Clinical Microbiology study describes LymeSeek, a single blood test from Aces Diagnostics that reads 16 antibody signals at once. In people with early Lyme, it detected over 90% of cases within two weeks. It also caught 21 of 30 cases that standard testing missed, including some with no rash.

LymeSeek isn’t available to the public yet. The FDA clearance process has begun, and more studies are under way.

NOTE: For now, LymeSeek targets Borrelia burgdorferi, the main North American Lyme species, using antibodies to a panel of its antigens. It is not a cleared clinical test yet and still needs further validation, including planned clinical trials. It also will not tell a patient whether they have coinfections. It is a promising research tool for the early weeks of illness, when standard two-tier tests often miss cases, though a result in the first few days after a tick bite can still be negative.

Was your first Lyme test negative? Tell us below, and share this with someone still waiting on answers. 💚

Check out the science: https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jcm.00879-26

Samples came from the Lyme Disease Biobank, a program of our research partner, the Bay Area Lyme Foundation.

10/05/2026

✨ WORLD PANS/PANDAS AWARENESS DAY OCTOBER 9:

When a child’s symptoms seem to appear overnight, families need help understanding what’s happening.

PANS involves the sudden onset of obsessive-compulsive symptoms or severely restricted eating, together with other abrupt changes that can include severe anxiety, tics, or behavioral regression after exposure to infections that include Lyme, Bartonella, and Babesia. PANDAS describes a subset associated with group A strep infection.

Often, diagnosis can take months or even years, while a child suffers. Our friends at LymeTV have launched a national awareness campaign to bring these often-overlooked conditions to the attention of more families, educators, and healthcare providers.

📢 Help this important message reach your community. Share LymeTV’s video or ask your local radio or TV station to air its free public service announcements.

Learn more: https://lymetv.org/ianc-project/

Lymetv

10/04/2026

What could help scientists develop treatments for Powassan virus? A better understanding of how it harms the brain.

For our Lyme community, this research is worth following: the same blacklegged ticks that transmit Lyme disease can also carry Powassan virus. Powassan can cause severe neurological illness, and it has no specific treatment or vaccine.

Three studies from Georgia State University offer clues that could help researchers identify treatment targets and study long-term damage. The findings shown here come from laboratory and animal models, so they do not yet establish what will work in people.

We look forward to following further developments in Powassan virus research that can help reduce the risk of this emerging threat.

Learn more about the science from Medical Xpress - Medical and Health News: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-advances-borne-powassan-virus.html

10/03/2026

🔬 While trying to figure out why patients with symptoms similar to the Dabie bandavirus (DBV) kept testing negative for the infection, scientists discovered a new tick-borne virus: the Asian longhorned tick nairovirus (ALTNV).

Among 3,163 patients studied in China after tick bites, 10.4% tested positive for ALTNV.

Patients with ALTNV alone commonly experienced fatigue and digestive symptoms and recovered completely. Those also infected with Dabie bandavirus (DBV) had more respiratory symptoms and kidney impairment than patients with DBV alone.

Among patients who tested negative for DBV, 15.1% also tested positive for ALTNV.

For the Lyme community, the value of this discovery goes beyond adding another name to the list of tick-borne infections. It helps explain some previously unresolved illnesses and shows why researchers need to keep investigating when symptoms and test results don’t line up.

Read more via ScienceDaily: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225027.htm

10/02/2026

🚨NEWS FOR THE LYME COMMUNITY:

Nearly $3 million in new funding will put two tick control ideas to the test.

The CDC and NIH are funding pilot projects focused on the host animals that ticks feed on. Researchers will study whether treated feed for deer can prevent adult ticks from getting the blood meal they need to lay eggs. They’ll also test rodent bait boxes intended to kill feeding ticks and reduce the bacteria that cause Lyme disease in rodents.

The goal is to learn whether these approaches can lower local tick populations and, eventually, the risk of Lyme disease, alpha-gal syndrome, and other tick-borne illnesses. Those benefits have yet to be demonstrated. For our community, this is a welcome investment in prevention, with important results still to come.

Read the complete press release to learn more: https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/hhs-funds-tick-control-research-lyme-disease-alpha-gal-syndrome.html

10/01/2026

👏 A WIN WORTH CELEBRATING: The Kay Hagan Tick Reauthorization Act is now law!

To everyone who contacted a lawmaker, shared a call to action, or spoke up about life with tick-borne illness: thank you! Your advocacy helped bring this legislation across the finish line. We’re grateful to our friends at Center for Lyme Action and the many people and organizations who worked to make it happen.

The law supports prevention, surveillance, research, and public health efforts addressing Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. The next step is making sure it’s fully implemented, with continued federal investment to support that work.

Our community knows how much remains to be done. Today, we also have something to celebrate.

Share this news with someone who needs a little hope today. 💚

Center for Lyme Action

09/30/2026

One tick bite can have lasting consequences.

In a new opinion piece, journalist Mary Beth Pfeiffer calls for a stronger U.S. response to tick-borne illness—including more research, better diagnostics, and treatments for those who remain ill.

Behind the statistics are people and families who have spent years searching for answers. Their experiences deserve attention—and action.

What do you wish Congress understood about tick-borne illness? Share your thoughts below.

Read Pfeiffer’s full piece: https://www.aol.com/articles/menace-ticks-march-nj-congress-083542000.html

09/29/2026

Former Marine Bill Hoyt needed extra handrails just to move around his own home.

Hoyt initially thought a new knee ache might be related to an old surgery. But as pain, fatigue, brain fog, and mobility issues worsened, he went from doctor to doctor searching for answers.

Eventually, testing he paid for out of pocket indicated a previous Lyme infection and active co-infections, including babesiosis. But getting those results recognized presented another challenge.

Today, Hoyt has regained much of his strength. His story reflects the persistence it can take to find answers and access care while your health is declining.

Read his full story in Richmond Times-Dispatch: https://richmond.com/news/state-regional/article_d6d9339c-06e4-476b-8d8c-340be8a83603.html

09/28/2026

✨ CHECK OUT THIS GREAT NEW VIDEO RESOURCE!

�If you missed our conversation with Dr. Bill Rawls and Tim Yarborough, the replay is now available. Drawing on Tim’s nearly a decade of conversations with patients and their experience building the RESTORE180 community, they explored the questions patients ask, the challenges they face, and the role that guidance and connection can play along the way.

Watch it now (link in bio): https://projectlyme.org/event/beyond-the-protocol-what-lyme-patients-actually-need/

Bill Rawls, MD Vital Plan timyarborough Alexandra Moresco

09/26/2026

Laura Hardecke grew up raising cattle and pigs. Then alpha-gal syndrome made beef and pork potential triggers.

About a year after she was diagnosed with Lyme disease, Laura began experiencing severe gastrointestinal pain three to six hours after eating sausage burgers. Testing led to an alpha-gal syndrome diagnosis, a potentially serious allergy associated with tick bites that can cause delayed reactions to products containing mammalian ingredients.

Because reactions can take hours to appear, alpha-gal can be difficult to recognize. After diagnosis, people may have to rethink restaurant meals, medications, and other parts of daily life. Avoiding the foods and ingredients that cause a reaction remains the only proven way to manage the condition. Laura has also explored complementary treatments, but there is not yet evidence that they work.

She continues working outdoors and advocating for greater awareness, better research, and treatments that work.

🔗 Read Laura’s full story from Farm Journal's PORK: https://www.porkbusiness.com/news/how-one-tick-bite-left-missouri-farm-girl-allergic-red-meat-and-search-answers

Address

229 E. 85th Street #38
New York, NY
10028

Opening Hours

7pm - 8pm

Telephone

+12073709313

Website

http://projectlyme.org/

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