Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s latest cause, outside of losing fights to snakes, is centered around Lyme disease and ticks. In late May, RFK Jr. and HHS announced a “sweeping” plan to tackle Lyme and other tickborne illnesses. Though the plan does have some solid aspects, such as increased research funding, others are based on conspiratorial and unsupported beliefs about the disease—namely the idea that Lyme is routinely causing chronic infections that can’t be treated with conventional antibiotics and are being ignored by most doctors. “Tickborne infections, including Lyme, are a real and growing public health problem, so some might view this move by HHS as a step in the right direction even if they disagree with Kennedy on other issues. But it’s the exact opposite—it is yet another love letter to medical pseudoscience and conspiracism from RFK Jr.,” Adam Gaffney, a critical care and pulmonary physician as well as a former president of the Physicians for a National Health Program, told Gizmodo. Why ‘chronic Lyme’ is on shaky ground Lyme disease is caused by certain Borrelia bacteria, which are transmitted by various species of tick. In the U.S., Lyme is usually caused by B. burgdorferi and is typically transmitted through the bites of female blacklegged, or deer, ticks (Ixodes scapularis).