![]() ![]() After repletion, deer tick nymphs drop to the leaf litter, and in early fall molt to adult males and females. In Maine, nymphs peak in late June and July, which is when ~65% of the human cases of Lyme disease are reported. Dogs and other furred animals are more frequently infected by adult ticks which escape detection. Most human Lyme disease results from the bite of undiscovered nymphs in the summer. Their tiny size and painless bites may allow them to remain undetected through the ~36 hours it takes for spirochetes to be transmitted from a feeding tick. The symptoms typically appear 5 to 10 days following the tick bite. Symptoms include fever, severe headache, abdominal pain, muscle aches, joint pains, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and a rash that may cover the entire body. Nymphs also feed on humans, dogs, and horses, and other hosts. This is one of the most severe tick-borne illness in the U.S. Many of the animals they feed on, particularly mice and chipmunks, will have been previously infected with the agents of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases it is from these “reservoir hosts” that they become infected.Īfter over-wintering, larvae molt to nymphs which seek a second blood meal in the spring, passing on the infections they acquired as larvae to the next year’s crop of small mammal/avian hosts. Uninfected larvae emerge in mid-summer and soon seek a blood meal, primarily from mice, other small mammals and certain songbirds. The Lyme spirochete is not passed from an infected female deer tick to her eggs. A mated adult female deer tick, having obtained a blood meal from a white-tailed deer, dog, cat, or other large mammal in the fall or early spring, may deposit up to 3000 eggs in late May and early June. This tick’s life cycle requires at least two years for completion.įollowing its first appearance in southern Maine in the 1980’s, this tick advanced along the coast and then inland, and may now occasionally be encountered in northern Maine. The “deer tick”, officially known as the black-legged tick, is essentially the sole vector of the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, as well as the agents of anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and deer tick virus. Technology Transfer & Intellectual Property.COBRE in Acute Care Research & Rural Disparities.NNE Clinical & Translational Research Network.Center for Interdisciplinary Population & Health Research.Center for Clinical and Translational Science.Center for Applied Science and Technology. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |