The latest news about entomology, brought to you by the Entomological Society of America
By Leslie Mertz If you have ever found a deer tick crawling on your shirt or sock, you know how difficult they can be to spot. Adult females are about the size of a small freckle and nearly as flat (at least until they begin feeding and plumping up on your blood), and immature ticks—the […]
By Josh Lancette Lyme disease has been spreading across the United States over the past several decades, and a new study has confirmed that ticks carrying the disease are present in eastern national parks. According to the study published in the Journal of Medical Entomology, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and […]
By Meredith Swett Walker If you have lived in the northeastern United States any time in the last 25 years or so, you have almost certainly heard of Lyme disease. You may have scrutinized odd-looking insect bites, wondering if they are developing the disease’s tell-tale “bulls-eye” rash. And you may have become skilled at distinguishing […]
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, there are more than 300,000 cases of Lyme disease in the U.S. each year. Last year, most Lyme disease cases reported to the CDC were concentrated heavily in the Northeast and upper Midwest, with 96 percent of cases in 13 states. In fact, the disease gets its […]
Since white-tailed deer serve as the primary host for the adult blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) — the vector for Lyme disease — scientists have wondered whether reducing the number of deer in a given area would also mean fewer cases of Lyme disease. Now, after a 13-year study was conducted, researchers in Connecticut have found […]
