Ticks, lizards, squirrels, and Lyme disease
Ticks, lizards, squirrels, and Lyme disease: why I'm glad I live in California.
A lecture by Dr. Dan Salkeld, University of California, Berkeley
Most people who spend time outdoors are familiar with the potential hazard of Lyme Disease. Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria that can be carried by ticks and transferred to humans if an infected tick feeds on a person. In northern California, Lyme disease can be transmitted by the western black-legged tick (Ixodes pacificus), which feeds on a wide variety of animals such as mice, woodrats, squirrels, lizards, and deer, and occasionally (to our disgust) on humans. On the east coast, where mice, chipmunks and shrews all carry the bacteria and infect ticks, human rates of infection by Lyme disease are high. However in California, human rates of infections are much lower. This may be because various hosts that ticks feed on have different roles in the disease dynamics: some hosts are good 'reservoirs' of the disease, whereas other species, like the western fence lizard (common bluebellies), destroy the disease. Understanding the ecology of the hosts and disease is an important part of understanding why it's much better to be living in California, compared to New England!
Dan Salkeld, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley, is part of a team studying the dynamics of Lyme disease in northern California. Join us for Dan's lecture, followed by a short field excursion to continue talking about ticks and Dan's field work.
1:00-2:30pm talk and discussion
2:30-4:00 mini field trip.
For more information contact:
UC Davis - McLaughlin Reserve
mclaughlin@ucdavis.edu
(707)995 9005
A lecture by Dr. Dan Salkeld, University of California, Berkeley
Most people who spend time outdoors are familiar with the potential hazard of Lyme Disease. Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria that can be carried by ticks and transferred to humans if an infected tick feeds on a person. In northern California, Lyme disease can be transmitted by the western black-legged tick (Ixodes pacificus), which feeds on a wide variety of animals such as mice, woodrats, squirrels, lizards, and deer, and occasionally (to our disgust) on humans. On the east coast, where mice, chipmunks and shrews all carry the bacteria and infect ticks, human rates of infection by Lyme disease are high. However in California, human rates of infections are much lower. This may be because various hosts that ticks feed on have different roles in the disease dynamics: some hosts are good 'reservoirs' of the disease, whereas other species, like the western fence lizard (common bluebellies), destroy the disease. Understanding the ecology of the hosts and disease is an important part of understanding why it's much better to be living in California, compared to New England!
Dan Salkeld, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley, is part of a team studying the dynamics of Lyme disease in northern California. Join us for Dan's lecture, followed by a short field excursion to continue talking about ticks and Dan's field work.
1:00-2:30pm talk and discussion
2:30-4:00 mini field trip.
For more information contact:
UC Davis - McLaughlin Reserve
mclaughlin@ucdavis.edu
(707)995 9005