DISEASE SPREADS: Deer ticks are expanding their range further north, bringing Lyme disease with them.
Image: Wikimedia Commons/Scott Bauer
Lyme disease may surge this year in the northeastern United States and is already spreading into Canada from a confluence of factors including acorns, mice and the climate.The illness is transmitted from mice and deer to humans via bites from the black-legged tick, Ixodes scapularis, usually in forested areas. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Lyme disease is the most commonly reported vector-borne illness in the United States.
Ninety-four percent of cases have been concentrated along the Eastern Seaboard and in Wisconsin and Minnesota. There were more than 20,000 confirmed cases in the United States in 2010, according to the most recent data available.
But now the disease is spreading in unprecedented ways, and public health officials from the United States and Canada are investigating methods to anticipate where it will spring up next.
The bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi causes Lyme disease, and infected individuals experience symptoms like chills, fatigue, muscle aches and often have a bull's-eye-shaped rash. Patients usually recover following antibiotic treatments.
"Many studies have shown that the ticks which transmit Lyme disease bacteria are affected by temperature and moisture," said Rebecca Eisen, a vector-borne disease researcher at the CDC, in an email. "As a result, changes in the geographic distribution and onset of human Lyme disease cases could occur."
The climate also has effects on other organisms involved in Lyme disease transmission. Richard Ostfeld, a disease ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, studied the interplay among oak trees, white-footed mice, ticks and Lyme disease. He forecasts higher infection risks this year based on several factors.
Start with 2010's acorns and 2011's mice
The process generally starts with acorns -- the seeds for oak trees. Producing acorns is very energy-expensive, explained Ostfeld, so an oak tree will only make them every couple of years or so. A bumper acorn crop leads to more mice several months later. Acorn production at the research site reached a record high in 2010 and was followed by a mouse population boom in the summer of 2011.
The mice carry the Lyme disease pathogen that then infects ticks at various stages in their life cycle. Ticks drink blood as larvae, as nymphs and then as adults, so if a baby tick gets infected, it can spread the disease as it matures. "It's a cycle where the pathogen gets transmitted back and forth between wildlife hosts and ticks," said Ostfeld.
Mice and deer are the main hosts for ticks. For Lyme disease, mice are particularly effective carriers because the disease doesn't harm them and their immune systems don't bother fighting off the bacteria. Mice also don't groom or aggressively fight off ticks, making them prone to bites. According to Ostfeld, this means ticks are at least twice as likely to pick up Lyme disease from mice as they are from other animals. However, ticks will gladly sample humans should the need or opportunity present itself. And this year, they might.
Though mice were abundant in 2011, acorn production hit a record low, which will lead to a mouse population crash this year. In addition, this past winter was warmer than usual, so normally dormant ticks are active. Now infected maturing ticks are crawling through forests in the Northeast in search of their next meal. "Humans unwittingly are going to be hosts of a whole heck of a lot of infected nymphs," said Ostfeld.
Add 2012's record warm spring
In Canada, researchers and health officials are more concerned about how these unwelcome migrants from the south are moving further north and into broader areas. "[Lyme disease has] been around for a fair while, but in isolated pockets," said Patrick Leighton, a scientist at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Montreal. "It's really emerging now as more of an actual problem."
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3 Comments
Add CommentA terrible condition, hard to diagnose, hard to cure, hard to live with. An associate was forced into retirement and permanent disability in his 40's due to this disease and its consequences. Ticks - you have to dismember them to assure they are dead; they are always around, even in winter, dogs and cats bring them near and ticks are so small, and so gentle, that by the time you find one, it's too late.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNever mind the bears, don't go into the woods ANY day, the ticks are holding a rave.
As current research shows, Embers, et al, it is high time we stopped the carnage. 3-4 weeks of antibiotics do not kill this bacteria, long term antibiotics are warranted just as with many other infections such as tuberculosis. In some communities 50% of the population has been infected. What is that doing to the already damaged economies? What is going to happen when the older population retires and there are 10-50% sick people left to fill their boots in the workforce? People with chronic Lyme disease can work perhaps 10-50% of the time of a healthy person optimistically, and it is inconsistent as to when they feel good enough to work. How will companies run a business model on that employee base?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLyme Disease is all too often diagnosed as Fibromyalgia, and vice versa. Both are devastating.
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