Tick ​​explosion in northern New York is the “worst scenario” for Lyme disease

Syracuse, NY – In May 2020, New York residents mailed 442 mites to a laboratory at Upstate Medical College to test for illness.

In May of this year, the lab received 1,548 ticks. This is more than three times the number last year.

“The mites are exploding,” said Sarabanan Tangamani, who runs. Test lab..

Worse: Not just there More ticks this yearHowever, most of them carry microorganisms that cause human illness, especially the bacteria that cause Lyme disease.

In the first five months of 2020, 22.4% of laboratory-tested mites had at least the virus or bacteria that caused the disease, Tangamani said. In the first five months of this year, it was close to 37%.

“The number of individual mites is one concern, but the bigger concern is the fairly high prevalence of these mites.”

And this year, the depletion of white-footed mice, the favorite blood source for mites, means that many hungry mites are looking for warm-blooded animals they can find.

“Tick is looking for other hosts, and some of those hosts may include us,” he said. Cary Ecosystem InstituteIt is located in the Hudson Valley, the epicenter of Lime, New York. “This is the worst scenario of human risk.”

The state health department also saw more ticks than last year at most of the 100 sampling sites, a spokesman said.

Ostfeld said that tick researchers saw this coming. He said the complex sequence of ecological booms and bust cycles overlaid on Dani’s own two-year life cycle created a perfect storm for the risk of human illness.

It began in the fall of 2019, with oak trees producing a good harvest of acorns in much of the eastern United States. White-footed mice devoured their excess of high-energy foods, causing their own population explosion in the spring of 2020. In a boom period like 2020, mouse populations could be 20 times higher than normal, according to Ostfeld.

That “eruption” of the mouse meant it was easier for ticks to find what scientists call their blood diet, he said. More larval mites survived to the larval stage. This is the cause of more than three-quarters of cases of Lyme disease in humans.

Nymphal mites are the main source of infection for Lyme disease and other diseases for two reasons.

-They are most active in the summer when humans are trampling forests and paths.

-They are small-the size of poppy seeds-so they are harder to see on the skin than larger adults. The longer the ticks adhere to the skin invisibly, the more likely they are to get sick.

When tick larvae hatch from eggs in the spring, they are disease-free. They can ingest viruses and bacteria from infected mice and other small mammals and pass them on when feeding as nymphs and again as adults.

Another reason for this year’s tick surge is two consecutive warm winters and springs, Tangamani said. Fewer mites are killed in the cold and animals become more active.

“When the weather warms, humans go out,” he said. “For small mammals like mice, they want to get out of their burrows and look for food. Whether it’s us or wildlife, it’s a great opportunity for mites to get caught in mammals.”

The State Department of Health said odd-numbered years tend to have more mites than even-numbered years because of the two-year life cycle.

In total, 2021 is a particularly bad time for humans to walk in the woods and grass waiting for mites to catch their passing prey.

“With a large number of mice in 2020, these mites are more hungry than usual because the nymph stage mites boomed in 2021 and the mice crashed in 2021,” Ostfeld said. I will.

Nymphal mites continue to feed throughout the summer as more people go outdoors and are more likely to encounter mites. Mites feed only three times during their two-year lifespan as larvae, larvae, and finally adults. Adult mites are most active in the fall, as women seek a last meal before winter. Adult mites are most likely to get sick because they have already eaten other animals that may be infected twice.

Researchers predict that this year’s tick boom will lead to more cases of Lyme disease and other illnesses in humans, but it’s too early to confirm.

“We are still early in the nymph season,” said Ostfeld. “We are collecting data when we are talking.”

Many cases of tick-borne disease have not been reported or confirmed. Even if a case is reported to state and federal health agencies, it can take months or years for the data to be reviewed and published.

Meanwhile, envelopes with ticks inside continue to be poured into the Upstate Lab. According to the lab’s Twitter account, 201 ticks arrived by email on June 8th. This is the highest total in a day since the lab launched a free testing program in April 2019. This program has two purposes. Telling the population if the mites they find have the disease and using citizen science to map the mites and their disease distribution.

Since the program began, the lab has processed over 11,000 ticks. Of these, 80% are black-footed mites, also known as deer ticks. It carries the lime fungus, so it is the source of greatest concern.

one third Black-footed ticks tested in upstate It contains the bacterium known as Borrelia burgdorferi. About 10% had bacteria that cause Babesiosis with symptoms similar to Lyme disease (fever, body aches, headaches, malaise).

Tangamani said the flood of mites arriving in the lab wasn’t just because more people were listening to the test program.

“I talk to some of my colleagues who are aware of the increase in ticks, up to 50% of deer ticks,” he said. “I called some colleagues in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and they see an increase.”

If there is a silver backing this year’s tick season, Ostfeld said it is likely that 2022 will reduce the risk of tick bites. Due to the decline in mouse populations, it is expected that there will be fewer mites this year.

However, mites and the diseases they carry – up to seven different pathogens have been identified in New York mites – stay here.

“Once the ticks have settled, they will continue to grow,” said Brian Raydette, an epidemiologist and tick expert at the State University of New York at Environmental Science and Forestry. “It will always get worse.”

If you find a tick crawling or sticking to a human or pet, you can send it to the lab.Start by filling in Online submission formThen follow the instructions. You will receive an email notifying you of the type of tick you sent and whether or not you have an illness. The test is free.

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