Lyme is awful. And, lest ye think I'm getting all personal here, Lyme is part of the Doom. First, it might have been a US biowarfare project that rode a deer off of poorly secured labs on Plum Island, and second, climate change is leading to explosions of tick populations that spread the nasty, dangerous disease. So there.
And it's going to be a bad year for it, so look out.
"A University of Rhode Island Professor is warning that this summer may be a big one for a small, disease carrying critter.
Thomas Mather thinks this summer could be a good one for ticks, and a bad one for us.
The problem starts with acorns, Mather says, which were plentiful in 2006. More acorns, more mice. More mice, more Lyme disease, which ticks transmit between the rodents and humans.
“The result,” he said, “is that people will be more likely to encounter ticks that can transmit Lyme and other diseases.”
Mather, an entomology professor and the director of URI’s Center for Vector-Borne Disease, also thinks the tick season will begin a little early this year –– mid May instead of late May or early June.
His predictions rest on the right conditions for tick survival, “The weather could have an impact on how bad the tick season is,” he said “If we have a very dry May and June, my predictions get tossed out the window.”
But it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. Mather suggests checking for tics thoroughly every day; using a pointy tick removing tweezers to safely remove attached ticks; treating clothes with repellent containing Permathrin and wearing treated clothes; keeping yards clear of trash and other litter; hiring a professional pest controller to treat yards.
For more information, see the URI Tick Encounter Resource Center, online." LINK
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