Integrated Tick Management
Have you heard several tick-related stories recently? Listened to predictions that we will see an increase in tick populations? Read an article on why we may be seeing a rise in Lyme disease? Watched a story about a new case of Powassan virus? A lot of information has surfaced on ticks in the last few year. While there are hundreds of species of ticks, there is one main culprit in spreading both of the above diseases to humans.
Ixodes scapularis, the black-legged tick or deer tick, is the main vector of Lyme disease and Powassan virus to humans. Black-legged ticks are born disease free, and it is during their first larval stage blood meal that the tick may acquire a disease from an infected host. White-footed mice and other small mammals are known in the Lyme disease cycle as the primary reservoir hosts carrying the disease and infecting the larval tick.