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Of Telescopes and Ticks: How Mount Wilson Observatory Became an Infectious Disease Study Site
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THE HILLS HAVE TICKS An aerial view of the tick country around Mount Wilson Observatory, which is nestled in the San Gabriel Mountains outside Los Angeles. BRUCE WILSON/CSU LONG BEACH
TICKED OFF This soft-bodied tick (Ornithodoros hermsii) is the same species that bit Larry Webster on the ankle, transmitting the spirochete bacteria (Borrelia hermsii) that causes relapsing fever. NIAID/RML
BUG SLEUTH Medical entomologist Tom Schwan of the Rocky Mountain Laboratory led the team that identified Larry Webster's illness as relapsing tick fever. NIAID/RML
TELESCOPIC TRANSMISSION Larry Webster's health troubles began after cleaning rodent feces and nesting material from the building that houses the century-old Snow Solar Telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory in California. MOUNT WILSON OBSERVATORY
