The role genetically engineered mice could play in fighting Lyme disease
Scientists are hoping to use genetic engineering to reduce the transmission of Lyme disease. The scientists' target is not the deer or the ticks often associated with the disease; it's wild mice.
Updated on: May 24, 2026 / 7:00 PM EDT / CBS News
This is an updated version of a story first published on Sept. 21, 2025. The original video can be viewed here .
Thirty miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is the island of Nantucket: a 14-mile-long, 3-mile-wide oasis known for its natural beauty, pristine shorelines, and protected landscape.
But hidden is a scourge that's afflicted 15% of its residents.
Kevin Esvelt: The natural disaster in our area is not hurricanes, or tornadoes, or earthquakes; it is Lyme disease. It is the one plague that might be severe enough that communities might want to engineer a wild organism in order to get rid of it, or, at least, reduce the level, a lot.