Ticks that carry Lyme disease spread quickly



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Think of living in a place free of ticks that carry disease? Do not be so sure.

Scientists have found ticks capable of transmitting Lyme disease and other tick – borne diseases in dozens of places in the United States where pests have not been found. never been registered before.

Ticks with disease were detected in 83 counties where they had never been detected before in 24 states

. The numbers reflect an increase in tick populations across the country, according to the study's author Nate Nieto. . He is an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Northern Arizona University

"People should be aware of ticks and tick-borne disease even though they may think that 39, there is no recorded county impact, "Nieto said. "These things, they do not obey the borders.They go by the biology.So they are transported there by a deer or a bird or pets, they will establish and start to grow up "

The National Mass Survey also proves that ticks carry infectious disease, rather than picking sprouts. Wendy Adams, director of research grants at the Bay Area Lyme Foundation in California, said: "All life stages of the most commonly encountered ticks – deer tick, western tick and Adams carried the bacteria responsible for Lyme disease," he says.

"It's important because it would mean that a tick does not need to acquire an infection through a blood meal. He was born with the infection, "says Adams.

These findings are the result of an unexpected effort by the Bay Area Lyme Foundation to collect tick samples across the country.

Between January 2016 and August 2017, the foundation and the University of North Arizona offered free identification and tick tests to the general public.People were encouraged to send ticks that they found on their own, their pets or around their communities.

The original goal of the scientists was to collect about 2,000 ticks. They ended up with over 16 000 people, sent by people from all states except Alaska.

"We had such a phenomenal participation," said Nieto. "Two weeks in May, we received nearly 2,000 packages per week. People have found ticks in areas not represented in the monitoring charts of US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the researchers found. Adams says.

"Ticks Spread. Tick populations exploded ," Adams said. "These are good data to show the magnitude of this – it's a message to people that even if you think ticks are not a problem, they could be." [19659002] The 24 states that contain newly documented populations of deer ticks or blacklegged ticks are Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Missouri, Nevada, Carolina North, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin

Ticks were found in states where they were just not supposed to be, Adams said. Solitary star ticks were found in California and blacklegged ticks were found in Nevada, both for the first time.

People also found ticks carrying Babesia – microscopic parasites that infect red blood cells and cause babesiosis of life-threatening disease – in 26 counties across 10 states in which the Department of Public Health does not require doctors to report cases of the disease.

The new study "accentuates the geographic variability of ticks and the pathogens that they carry," said Dr. Paul Auwaerter, clinical director of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore.

"Surveillance is becoming increasingly important as we see climate and environmental changes because we are seeing expanding ranges of ticks, which we have seen with Lyme disease. seen this with babesiosis, "said Auwaerter, president of the American Society of Infectious Diseases.

Adams agreed, suggesting that more funding should be directed to these kinds of crowd-source tracking efforts

"We have Meanwhile, the Bay Area Lyme Foundation suggests that people protect themselves against ticks in:

  • Wear light clothing to make ticks more noticeable
  • Perform regular tick checks after being in a tick-infested area and take a shower immediately afterwards to remove ticks that crawl
  • Remember to use tick repellents like DEET for skin and permethrin for clothes Talk to your doctor if you develop symptoms after a tick bite.

The new study published online July 12 in the journal PLOS One . [ad_2]
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