Post by ranibilkis88888 on Feb 18, 2024 3:33:12 GMT
Uncertain future.Lyme disease is one of the most devastating tick-borne infections in the united states, affecting more than 300,000 people each year. It's also one of the most mysterious: the creature that spreads it, the black-legged tick, lives throughout the country. However, the northeastern united states is home to many more cases than anywhere else. Now, researchers have identified an unexpected reason: lizards. Blacklegged ticks (ixodes scapularis), also known as deer ticks, carry corkscrew-shaped bacteria that cause lyme disease. Ticks pick up the pathogens, spir WhatsApp Number List ochetes that belong to the genus borrelia, when they suck the blood of animals such as mice, deer and lizards. In the next stage of their life cycle, ticks can attach themselves to an unfortunate human. But each host transmits microbes differently. Reptiles are worse transmitters than mammals, so ticks that have lived on reptiles are less likely to make people sick. Lizards may be protecting people from lyme disease in the southeastern united states the north-south divide in lyme cases is a fairly sharp line along the virginia and north carolina border. Researchers have hypothesized that the disparity in cases is due to ticks feeding on different hosts in the two regions. To test the idea, jean tsao, a disease ecologist at michigan state university, and her colleagues conducted an extensive study of eastern ticks, their abundance, behavior, and hosts, over 2 years at eight field sites in the united states.
Usa. They found a clear split in preferred tick hosts and behavior south of virginia, matching the pattern of tick infections and lyme disease. The big difference seems to be tied to a particular host. In the northeast, blacklegged ticks attach to small mammals such as the white-footed mouse, which are known to transmit lyme disease bacteria to insects . But in the south, ticks prefer to feed on lizards, especially skinks. These smooth, soft-scaled reptiles often live on leaves and twigs that have fallen to the ground, known as leaf litter, and are particularly poor transmitters of lyme pathogens. Therefore, fewer southern ticks are infected and fewer people get sick, the team reported last week in plos biology. Researchers took the right approach to solving the mystery, says andrea swei, a disease ecologist at san francisco state university who was not involved in the study. "Here they are comparing apples to pears, and this allows them to say a lot about host association patterns over a large geographic area." in a previous study, tsao and his colleagues noted that northeastern and southeastern ticks also search for hosts differently.
In the south, insects stayed under forest litter to avoid dehydration from the heat. Northern ticks were more extroverted, climbing on leaves and twigs, where they were much more likely to encounter and bite humans. That, combined with fewer lizards, makes ticks "A double whammy" in the northeast, tsao says. Lizards may be protecting people from lyme disease in the southeastern united states “peculiarities of tick ecology have consequences for human health,” says study co-author howard ginsberg, an ecologist at the u.S. Geological survey's patuxent wildlife research center. He hopes the work will inform efforts to track and reduce the spread of lyme disease. Climate change can alter these patterns, swei notes. Observations show that northeastern ticks have already been expanding their ranges. At the same time, researchers speculate that a warming climate could alter tick behavior and the presence of particular hosts, altering patterns of lyme disease incidence. It's important to keep an eye on the regions around the north-south divide, says swei. "As that area changes," he says, "It would really change the risk of disease for people who live right on that border." recommended to read wildlifeknowledge of the philippine pangolin, the only pangolin species in the country, is poor. Sightings of the animal are even rarer.
Usa. They found a clear split in preferred tick hosts and behavior south of virginia, matching the pattern of tick infections and lyme disease. The big difference seems to be tied to a particular host. In the northeast, blacklegged ticks attach to small mammals such as the white-footed mouse, which are known to transmit lyme disease bacteria to insects . But in the south, ticks prefer to feed on lizards, especially skinks. These smooth, soft-scaled reptiles often live on leaves and twigs that have fallen to the ground, known as leaf litter, and are particularly poor transmitters of lyme pathogens. Therefore, fewer southern ticks are infected and fewer people get sick, the team reported last week in plos biology. Researchers took the right approach to solving the mystery, says andrea swei, a disease ecologist at san francisco state university who was not involved in the study. "Here they are comparing apples to pears, and this allows them to say a lot about host association patterns over a large geographic area." in a previous study, tsao and his colleagues noted that northeastern and southeastern ticks also search for hosts differently.
In the south, insects stayed under forest litter to avoid dehydration from the heat. Northern ticks were more extroverted, climbing on leaves and twigs, where they were much more likely to encounter and bite humans. That, combined with fewer lizards, makes ticks "A double whammy" in the northeast, tsao says. Lizards may be protecting people from lyme disease in the southeastern united states “peculiarities of tick ecology have consequences for human health,” says study co-author howard ginsberg, an ecologist at the u.S. Geological survey's patuxent wildlife research center. He hopes the work will inform efforts to track and reduce the spread of lyme disease. Climate change can alter these patterns, swei notes. Observations show that northeastern ticks have already been expanding their ranges. At the same time, researchers speculate that a warming climate could alter tick behavior and the presence of particular hosts, altering patterns of lyme disease incidence. It's important to keep an eye on the regions around the north-south divide, says swei. "As that area changes," he says, "It would really change the risk of disease for people who live right on that border." recommended to read wildlifeknowledge of the philippine pangolin, the only pangolin species in the country, is poor. Sightings of the animal are even rarer.