The HEALTHY WELLNESS FROM THEHEALTHY.COM

A vaccine is finally on the way. In the meantime, here's how to protect yourself from ticks.

- Debby Waldman

WHILE DOG OWNERS have been able to vaccinate their pets against Lyme disease since the 1990s, the first human Lyme vaccine, LYMErix, was taken off the market by its manufacturer in 2002, after only four years. At the time, sales were low, partly because the market was small-about 20,000 cases a year in the United States and partly because of unproven claims that the vaccine caused arthritis.

Since then, cases have skyrocketed. Climate changes play a factor: ticks thrive in warm, humid environments, and their habitat is expanding. They live in wooded areas, on the edges of forests, under tree canopies and in tall grasses. Once most common in the northeastern, midwestern and mid-Atlantic states, the tick-and Lyme disease has since spread south and west.