The latest news about entomology, brought to you by the Entomological Society of America
A new species of bacteria that causes Lyme disease needs the same amount of time for transmission after a tick bite compared to previously implicated bacteria, according to new research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Existing guidelines for frequent tick checks and prompt removal of attached ticks remain the same. The […]
The winter of 2011-2012 was a mild one in the New York City area, and the following summer saw the lowest population density of nymphal blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) in the region since the Vector Ecology Laboratory at Fordham University had begun measuring it in 1987. And the ticks that were collected did not survive […]
An emerging tool in the fight against tick-borne disease, host-targeted bait boxes employ a sneaky trick: turning some of ticks’ favorite carriers —small mammals like mice and chipmunks —against them. And a new study in Journal of Medical Entomology shows an improved design has made such bait boxes an increasingly viable addition to integrated tick […]
An international team of scientists led by Purdue University has sequenced the genome of the tick that transmits Lyme disease, the most common vector-borne illness in North America. Ixodes scapularis, known as the blacklegged tick or the deer tick, is the first tick species to have its genome sequenced. The decade-long project, involving 93 authors […]
By Hannah Foster Lyme disease is a potentially debilitating disease caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. The disease is spread to humans by two tick varieties: the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis), which is responsible for most cases of Lyme disease in the United States, and the western blacklegged tick (Ixodes pacificus), the culprit for cases […]
