Wasp May Curb Lyme Disease Carrier

A wasp no bigger than the dot of an “i” could play a big role in the fight against Lyme disease after its rediscovery by a victim of the ailment who was searching through old newspaper files.

The state on Tuesday awarded a $15,000 grant to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to collect chalcid wasps, reproduce them and eventually turn them loose on the deer tick, which carries Lyme disease.

“We need more information, but it looks like there’s potential there,” said Roy Van Driesche, an entomology professor involved in the project.

Burton Engley, a 76-year-old Martha’s Vineyard resident who had suffered two mild cases of Lyme disease, said he was trying to track down reports of an experiment he recalled from the 1920s.

He found a 1937 article that reported a 1926 experiment in which chalcid wasps from Europe were released on the island to kill dog and wood ticks. That concurred with a 1985 study that found that the wasp’s eggs had infested and were killing nearly 27% of the deer ticks on the island.

Lyme disease can cause rashes, headaches and sore muscles, and, if not detected early, arthritis and heart irregularities. It can be treated with antibiotics.