RICHMOND, Va., — Dr. Richard Marconi has studied ticks and the diseases they carry for decades.
He first joined VCU’s School of Medicine back in 1994. Before that, he worked with Dr. Willy Burgdorfer who discovered Lyme disease (also known as Borrelia burgdorferi).
Dr. Marconi now leads a team of 14 professionals in his Richmond lab working on a Lyme disease vaccine for humans.
The vaccine is based on the Vanguard crLyme, North America’s number one licensed vaccination of dogs 8 weeks of age or older for Lyme disease, that Dr. Marconi and his team developed at VCU.
Dr. Marconi told CBS 6’s Brendan King that he received great and promising results during a recent study of the drug.
The developments come at a time when Dr. Marconi fears a “quite extreme” tick season for several reasons.
“This winter of 2023 to 2024, we saw the highest level of rainfall in recorded history in Virginia. It’s also been the eighth warmest winter in recorded history in Virginia, and ticks thrive on that,” he explained.
Dr. Marconi said you shouldn’t fear going outside, but instead, perform a careful tick check after returning inside.
He also urged everyone to know the signs of a tick bite, especially when it comes to the early warning signs of Lyme disease.
“One of the most common early symptoms of Lyme disease is the development of what we typically refer to as a bullseye rash,” Dr. Marconi stated. “Then it progresses later on to more serious things that include arthritis carditis, inflammation of the heart, and neurological complications.”
Dr. Marconi said he has already fielded several calls and emails from Virginians who have been bitten by ticks and are now experiencing the bullseye.
Experts encourage you to frequently mow your lawn as ticks prefer tall grasses and vegetation. They also dwell in leaf litter.
His team also studies other tick-associated diseases like Leptospira and Alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), or tick bite meat allergy.
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