Direct field evidence shows that Lyme disease in humans can be prevented by vaccinating wildlife, researchers in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at Yale School of Medicine report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

As Americans queue up anxiously for flu shots, new research proposes a different sort of mass vaccination program to combat Lyme disease – a vaccine drive for mice.

Vaccinating large populations of white-footed mice against the bacterium that causes Lyme disease could help reduce the risk of transmission of the disease to humans, says a study supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.