Mice give ticks a free lunch: Amplifying risk of Lyme disease and other tick-borne ailments
Monday, March 24, 2014 - 08:31
in Biology & Nature
People living in northern and central parts of the U.S. are more likely to contract Lyme disease and other tick-borne ailments when white-footed mice are abundant. Mice are effective at transferring disease-causing pathogens to feeding ticks. And, according to an in-press paper in the journal Ecology, these "super hosts" appear indifferent to larval tick infestations.