Tick-borne diseases are on the rise in the United States. Lyme disease is the most commonly reported, with nearly half a million people diagnosed each year. Caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, it is most often spread by bites from blacklegged ticks. Lyme can be treated with antibiotics, but if untreated, infection can spread to the joints, heart and nervous system, and some people can experience persistent symptoms.
  • White-tailed deer are less important than previously thought
  • Mice matter more
  • The acorn effect
  • Mouse numbers don’t predict the proportion of Lyme-infected ticks
  • Extreme temperatures don’t kill ticks in the wild
  • fireweed@lemmy.world
    0·
    3 hours ago

    Extreme temperatures don’t kill ticks in the wild

    This surprised me because I thought climate change (specifically warmer winters) were behind the explosion of tick populations in the United States and Canada.