tl;dr: LymeAlert, launching in August for around $50, is an at-home test kit that detects Borrelia burgdorferi in ticks removed from people or pets, delivering results in 15 minutes via a pregnancy-test-style strip and companion app. Developed by an MIT Sloan team led by pediatric PA Erin Dawicki, it aims to close the gap left by mail-in tests that miss the CDC's 72-hour prophylactic antibiotic window. The CDC doesn't recommend tick testing due to false positive/negative risks, and experts caution the test indicates tick infection—not human infection—since only 1-5% of tick bites result in Lyme.