On Acorns, Mice, Chipmunks, and Lyme

[Celebration]

http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/PublicHealth/tb/3257

The population of deer? A nonstarter as a risk factor, according to Richard Ostfeld, Ph.D., of the Institute of Ecosystem Studies here.

Most research on Lyme disease has focused on white-tailed deer as a vector, with measurements of precipitation and temperature added to estimate the relative presence or absence of infected ticks.

But an analysis of 13-year data from deciduous forests in New York state's Dutchess Country shows that variations in the deer population play little or no role in the risk of the disease, and temperature and precipitation have only weak effects, Dr. Ostfeld and colleagues reported online in the free access journal PLoS Biology.

Instead, the "strongest predictors of a current year's risk were the prior year's abundance of mice and chipmunks and abundance of acorns two years previously," the researchers argued.

[rodeodance]

1. just when i think I know a few facts. Oh well.

[enough]

2. People around here (SE PA) are so paranoid about Lyme disease,

I can imagine a campaign to eradicate oak trees when this news gets out.

I am only partly kidding. Many people have come to fear woods and meadows -- mow mow mow is the mantra. (To the point of coming to Township meetings and demanding more and more mowing.) Pretty soon we will be nothing but two-inch lawn and macadam.

Thanks for the post -- interesting study.