Lyme disease digging in as Maine mounts fight against it

A new research lab will help with treatment, and public education efforts have intensified, but cases of the debilitating illness may fall just short of a state record this year.

With the number of Lyme disease cases in Maine this year approaching the record set in 2013, a voter-approved plan to build an $8 million laboratory to test ticks and do other research comes at a critical juncture in the fight against the debilitating disease.