Deer Ticks & Lyme Disease

October 30, 2011 - CC Radio Sunday Journal interview with Larry Depsis on the use of tick repellent clothing to prevent tick born diseases

October 7, 2011 - Be ALERT for the next generation of adult stage deer ticks.  Our surveys have just picked them up today at a site in Brewster, meaning they will be out in force shortly.    Deer ticks can transmit the microbes that cause Lyme, Babesiosis and Anaplasmosis.  Note that Babesiosis is reported to be on the increase in Massachusetts as well as in Rhode Island and Eastern New York.  In fact, about half of the cases reported in MA occur on the Cape & Islands.

Tick-Borne Diseases are preventable.  Click here for a Guide to the Prevention of Tick-Borne Diseases. 

New Tick-Borne Disease is Discovered - September 19, 2011 New York Times

Lyme Disease is caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi.  Yale scientists, Durland Fish and Peter Krause have recently identified another disease causing species of the Borrelia microbe as part of a collaboration with a team of Russian scientists. 

While it was shown by Dr. Fish in 2001 that deer ticks and mice in the Northeast and Upper Midwest  could host the bacterium,  the Russian team recently proved that it could cause illness.  The Yale team has a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the symptoms and develop a test. 

September 12, 2011 - Public Notice on Cooperative Extension Deer Tick Research Project

Photos of 4-Poster Deer Feeding Station

To see a video on the proper way to remove a tick click here.  Video provided courtesy of the Tick Encounter Resource Center, University of Rhode Island

Click here to view a news story by WBZ-TV Boston about a Cape Cod Cooperative Extension research project on Deer Tick Management.  (Broadcast May 20, 2011)

Click here to view a story on Cape Cod Public Access TV, County Chatter on Deer Tick and Lyme Disease:  Education & Research.  (Taped June 6, 2011)

Click here to view educational materials available from Cape Cod Extension.