Researchers unravel how ticks protect themselves from Lyme bacteria and other microbes

Everyone agrees that ticks are exceedingly nasty creatures. For hundreds of millions of years, they have survived on Earth by sucking blood from their victims for days, often leaving behind terrible diseases as a thank-you note. In humans, these diseases include many unpleasant and dangerous illnesses, such as Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, babesiosis, Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever, and tularemia, to name a few.