Get Educated On Lyme Disease
Get Educated On Lyme Disease
To the Editor:
Deer are not fully responsible for the spread of Lyme disease. We all must be educated. There are several reasons why killing deer wonât reduce Lyme disease. The Lyme disease tick is a multihost disease. It is carried by more than 40 bird species and all mammals. Mice and small rodents are the primary hosts for the stages of the tick, which are most infectious to people. Song birds play a role in bringing ticks to the areas. You cannot stop a multihost disease by killing some members of the host.
Deer do not support tick-borne pathogen transmission. They are dilution hosts. In some cases, localized absence of deer increases tick feeding on rodents, leading to the potential increased incidence of Lyme disease. We could kill all the deer and we would still have Lyme disease, perhaps even with higher rates.
In New Jersey, a study confirmed that deer culls are ineffective at reducing Lyme disease, finding that after three seasons of deer culling, there was no apparent reduction in tick population or Lyme disease rates.
Please educate yourselves before such a drastic extermination is put through!
Lesley Pearson
14 Bridle Path Trail, Newtown                               January 27, 2010