Why do some people think that Lyme disease began as a government bioweapon lab leak?
The usual suspects...
The Tucker Carlson Lyme Disease Lab Leak Conspiracy Theory
You likely know that you can get Lyme disease if you get bitten by a tick that is infected with the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria.
"Where do we think this came from?"
Tucker Carlson
Well, ticks get infected after feeding on a rodent or other wildlife host that is infected.
"Working with microbiologist David Persing, we found that ticks from the South Fork of Long Island collected in 1945 were infected. Subsequent studies found that mice from Cape Cod, collected in 1896, were infected."
No, Lyme disease is not an escaped military bioweapon, despite what conspiracy theorists say
If you are Tucker Carlson, you have Kris Newby on your show who is going to spout all of the most wild conspiracy theories she can come up with about where it came from, including that Lyme disease started in a goverment bioweapons lab on Plum Island.
Kris Newby can likely be considered an expert - on Lyme disease conspiracy theories.
"Under Our Skin makes numerous outlandish statements about the possible effects of Lyme disease, none of which are true."
A Review of Under Our Skin, A Cult Classic
She wrote the book Bitten and was the senior producer for the "quack" documentary Under Our Skin.
Tucker Carlson is Wrong Again
And of course, their conspiracy theories that are easily debunked!
"So decades before Lyme was identified — and before military scientists could have altered or weaponized it — the bacterium that causes it was living in the wild."
No, Lyme disease is not an escaped military bioweapon, despite what conspiracy theorists say
In addition to the fact that Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria have been long found in wildlife in the area, also consider that:
- the rash associated with Lyme disease, erythema chronica migrans, has been described in patients for over one hundred years - well before Lyme disease was formally described in the 1970s. In fact, Arvid Afzelius first described the rash and that it came after a tick bite in 1909!
- Willy Burgdorfer did not discover Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria in deer ticks until 1982, so how could the lab have released infected ticks in the 1960s?
- Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria across the United States are genetically very different, which you wouldn't expect if they all came from a recent lab leak!
Of course, neither Kris Newby nor Tucker Carlson mention any of this on his show...
"Finally, we find B. burgdorferi diversity is ancient (~60,000 years old) (Fig. 3). Although there is substantial uncertainty in estimated divergence times, our phylogeny shows a clear signature of ancient diversification of B. burgdorferi that long pre-dates the Lyme epidemic of the past ~40 years. Our reconstruction of the probable geographic origins of this diversity shows that, historically, it was geographically widespread across the northeast and midwest (Fig. 2b)."
Genomic insights into the ancient spread of Lyme disease across North America
So why are we seeing more Lyme disease and other tick borne diseases?
"The explosion of deer in the twentieth century into suburban landscapes, free of wolf predators and with strict hunting restrictions, allowed deer ticks to rapidly invade throughout much of New England and the Midwest. Climate change has also contributed. Warmer winters accelerate ticks’ life cycles and allow them to survive an estimated 28 miles further north each year.
Ticks expanded into suburbanized landscapes—full of animals like white-footed mice and robins, excellent hosts for B. burgdorferi. The expansion of ticks into habitats with ideal hosts allowed the bacterium to spread."
Ancient History of Lyme Disease in North America Revealed with Bacterial Genomes
There are many reasons, none of which involve a lab leak and none of which have easy fixes...
Let's hope that a new Lyme disease vaccine get approved soon! Pfizer has a Lyme disease vaccine in Phase 3 trials, which will finish in 2025.
More on Lyme Disease
- What to Do If a Tick Bites Your Child
- What is a Lyme-Literate Doctor?
- What Ever Happened to the Lyme Disease Vaccine?
- No, Lyme disease is not an escaped military bioweapon, despite what conspiracy theorists say
- Lyme Bacterium Predates the U.S. Lab That Conspiracy Theorists Say Unleashed Ticks on Public
- Ancient History of Lyme Disease in North America Revealed with Bacterial Genomes
- Tick Safety Tips from Lyme Disease Experts at Tufts
- Lyme Disease FAQs
- CDC - Tick removal and testing
- CDC - Chronic Symptoms and Lyme disease
- Erythema Chronicum Migrans Afzelius in Americans
- Genomic insights into the ancient spread of Lyme disease across North America
- Lyme disease—who is credible?
- The Great Willy Burgdorfer, 1925–2014
- An Uptick in Ticks
- Tickborne Diseases Are on the Rise—Here’s What To Know
- Does Everybody Have Chronic Lyme Disease? Does Anyone?
- Chronic Lyme disease: Fake diagnosis, not fake disease
- A Review of Under Our Skin, A Cult Classic
- What’s really behind the spread of Lyme disease? Clue: it’s not the Pentagon
- Lab 257 - Heaping More Dirt On Plum I.
- Tucker Carlson conflates ACIP COVID vaccine schedules with mandates
- Tucker Carlson Misrepresents Vaccine Safety Reporting Data
- Tucker Carlson Video Spreads Falsehoods on COVID-19 Vaccines, WHO Accord
- Tucker Carlson falsely claims COVID-19 vaccines might not work
- Tucker Carlson’s misleading claim about deaths after COVID-19 vaccine
