The Lyme Wars (2013)

Re:The Lyme Wars (2013) by ckinnan on Tuesday October 21, 2014 @02:04PM (#8488756)

Lyme is now the number one infectious disease in New England. Until medical science finds an effective cure, the best solution is to hunt deer populations back down to historical and sustainable levels, around 10 or 15 deer per square mile. (current populations approach 60 deer per square mile in some areas). While mice are the most important reservoir for Lyme (and pass it to humans via tick nymphs), the adult black legged tick still needs deer to complete its life cycle.

Added benefits: deer overpopulation is also a huge problem for forest management (they eat all the hardwood saplings) and deer-auto collisions kill a couple hundred people a year and cause over $4 billion a year in insurance losses.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Lyme Wars (2013) by gkop on Tuesday October 21, 2014 @02:17PM (#8488846)

This also accurately describes the deer overpopulation in Pennsylvania, where there is also rampant lyme disease. In Pennsylvania, the deer hunters really enjoy the status quo, because of the good odds they can bag a buck every year. And because the hunters have some political influence, proposals to reduce the deer population go nowhere. I'm not sure if the political landscape is similar in New England.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Lyme Wars (2013) by fasteo on Tuesday October 21, 2014 @02:30PM (#8488919)

Looking at this from the outside, it seems to me that deer hunters are more likely to get lyme disease and so, they should favor deer population control.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Lyme Wars (2013) by ep103 on Tuesday October 21, 2014 @03:04PM (#8489127)

If you're just going out into the woods for a day, its relatively easy to stay safe. You wear certain types of clothes, tuck them into each other a certain way, spray yourself with tick repellent, come home, throw them immediately into the wash, and then shower and check your body.

Ticks are much more difficult for children (who have to be taught the above), definitely people with outdoor pets, people who didn't expect to be in the woods (gardening, picnics, shortcut on the walk home, etc), and people not returning for the night (ever try checking yourself for ticks by firelight? even then your laundry is nearby, and they might crawl out. etc)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Lyme Wars (2013) by ckinnan on Tuesday October 21, 2014 @03:53PM (#8489480)

Specifically, when going into tick areas, no open toed shoes, no shorts, and wear long sleeves. Tuck your pants legs into your socks. Most ticks climb up from your feet. Another tip is to treat your outdoor shoes with permethrin on the first of each month in May, June, July, and August.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Lyme Wars (2013) by ckinnan on Tuesday October 21, 2014 @03:37PM (#8489359)

Talking to a lot of hunters, many don't recognize the Lyme threat, since it is a relatively new phenomenon, especially outside of New England. I also suspect that many outdoor people have been exposed to Lyme and don't know it, just had a "summer flu". Finally, hunting season (Oct to Dec) isn't a high risk time-- only larger adult ticks are active in October and never active when temps go below 40 degrees.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Lyme Wars (2013) by judk on Tuesday October 21, 2014 @06:45PM (#8490609)

They want to be the population control

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Lyme Wars (2013) by eric_h on Tuesday October 21, 2014 @03:05PM (#8489139)

I'm a fan of reintroducing wolves - they used to keep the deer population in check.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Lyme Wars (2013) by llimllib on Tuesday October 21, 2014 @04:24PM (#8489706)

> Lyme is now the number one infectious disease in New England.

Do you have a source for that claim?

edit: asked an ER doc, they joked "that's ridiculous, it's the common cold". Also my research and the doc suggest that Lyme is second to Chlamydia.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Lyme Wars (2013) by XFrequentist on Tuesday October 21, 2014 @02:28PM (#8488911)

My understanding is that deer are required for long-distance transport of black legged tick populations, but are not absolutely required to complete the full two-year life cycle.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Lyme Wars (2013) by ckinnan on Tuesday October 21, 2014 @03:29PM (#8489301)

Nope. "Even though adult ticks can feed on other mammals such as dogs, cats and raccoons, the female adult tick requires a blood meal from the deer before she can lay her 2,000 to 6,000 eggs." http://www.deeralliance.com/node/10

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Lyme Wars (2013) by eric_h on Wednesday October 22, 2014 @01:38AM (#8491562)

As an aside, I grew up in rural New Jersey (yes, such a place exists), and as long as I can remember we've always called these "black legged" ticks "deer" ticks.

Edit: as opposed to "wood" ticks (quite visibly distinctive http://www.tickencounter.org/tick_identification/rocky_mount... - in spite of their name, quite common in the woody regions of NJ), which don't carry Lyme disease. In my experience, this type of tick was much more common than the "deer" or "black legged" tick in NJ.

[ Parent | on HN ]