PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • December 29, 2022
The University of Maine will receive $6.2 million in federal funding to research ways to control tick populations, identify emerging tick species and expand public health efforts as Lyme disease cases have reached record-high levels in Maine. The funding was part of the federal omnibus spending bill approved by Congress last week and awaiting the signature of President Biden. Maine’s U.S. senators, Republican Susan Collins, and independent Angus King pushed for the funding amid the state’s high number of Lyme disease cases, a bacterial infection transmitted by the deer tick. Maine has reported nearly 2,600 cases of Lyme disease through Dec. 27.