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hrmjustin

(71,265 posts)
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 12:11 PM Jun 2014

Ticks can carry more than Lyme disease

Claire Hughes

As if the threat of Lyme disease weren't enough, a new study finds that a deer tick carrying the potentially debilitating illness has a good chance of toting some other malady, too — and that may be especially true if the tick hails from the suburbs.

One-third of ticks infected with Lyme disease in Dutchess County, a Hudson Valley area with high rates of tick-borne illness, were also infected with another pathogen, according to research conducted by scientists at Bard College, Sarah Lawrence College and the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. The researchers collected thousands of deer, or blacklegged, ticks, from more than 150 sites in Dutchess County.

Doctors, patients and scientists have long known about the chance of getting multiple infections from a single tick, and the threat of co-infections has been part of a decades-old controversy over how to test for and treat tick-borne illness.

New to this study, said co-author Felicia Keesing, is that the small mammals the ticks feed on also carry multiple infections. This means that the tick isn't getting different infections from multiple sources — it's getting two and sometimes three infections from the same mouse or chipmunk.

http://m.timesunion.com/local/article/Ticks-can-carry-more-than-Lyme-disease-5574021.php

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Ticks can carry more than Lyme disease (Original Post) hrmjustin Jun 2014 OP
did I see somewhere that this is a bumper crop season for them in NE? grasswire Jun 2014 #1
I don't know about a repellent but this is scary stuff. hrmjustin Jun 2014 #2
If you have the space safeinOhio Jun 2014 #3
Interesting info. hrmjustin Jun 2014 #4

grasswire

(50,130 posts)
1. did I see somewhere that this is a bumper crop season for them in NE?
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 12:58 PM
Jun 2014

Family members are going to Fire Island in August. Is there a repellant?

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