Archive for the Lyme Disease Category
Posted on March 28, 2012 with No Comments
Doug Inkley, whose home was invaded by thousands of stink bugs last year, holds one on his finger.
Hotter than usual springtime temperatures could lead to an earlier arrival of summertime critters — including a stink bug invasion. In America, 2,550 heat records were set during the week of March 18, and unseasonably warm weather forces the dreaded bugs to break out of hibernation earlier than usual, Business Insider reported. Halyomorpha halys, better known as stink bugs or “stinkers,” originally come from Asia and were first spotted in the U.S. in 1998, in Allentown, Pa. The insects have spread throughout the country in recent years, having been spotted in 37 states (including New York) and becoming a major agricultural pest, ruining fruit and vegetable crops. In Pennsylvania, the bugs were to blame for a reported 25% loss in apples and stone fruits during 2010, according to the state’s Department of Agriculture website.
Since stink bugs aren’t known to transmit disease or cause any physical harm, they’re no more than a nuisance to humans — just don’t step on them. When squashed, the hard-shelled insects emit an odor that’s “pungent and obtrusive, but not harmful,” according to the website.
Last year, a Maryland man was nearly forced out of his home when it was invaded by tens of thousands of stink bugs, the Washington Post reported. “When you find them in your food, in your sink, in your bed, in your hair and everywhere else, it’s a problem,” he told the newspaper.
Over nine months, Doug Inkley counted 56,205 of the bugs in his house and garden. The invasion cost him $10,000, and some bugs still remain.
Stink bugs aren’t the only unwanted critters to keep an eye out for this year. With the warm weather comes a earlier crop of beetles, ants, termites and even mosquitoes, USA Today reported. “We’re seeing insects out there that we don’t usually see this time of year,” Missy Henriksen of the National Pest Management Association told the newspaper. “Several states have even reported tick sightings, which is especially worrisome as people head outdoors to enjoy the weather and are unprepared for tick encounters.”
Posted on March 27, 2012 with No Comments
Warm weather means that ticks will be out early and spring and summer are on track to be a horrific season for lyme disease. Are you prepared?
The Wall Street Journal reports that The Center for Disease control (CDC ) is conducting the first study of its kind to determine whether spraying the yard for ticks can not only kill pests, but also reduce human disease. “Paul Mead, chief of epidemiology and surveillance activity at CDC’s bacterial-illness branch, says preliminary results from about 1,500 households indicate that a spray reduced the tick population by 60%.”
The Wall Street Journal Online has an interactive display that you can click on to learn how to prepare your yard for tick season. Some of the recommendations include:
Firewood piles and bird feeders should be kept away from your house.
Restrict the use of ground cover and plants that may attract deer.
Keep your grass mowed.
Keep your pets out of the woods.
Consider having targeted pesticides applied as a targeted treatment barrier.
JP McHale’s Pest Management Tick Protection Program can help protect your family and pets from diseases carrying ticks. Ticks are very small insects that feed on the blood of warm-blooded animals, including dogs, cats, mice, deer, and, of course, people. A tick will latch onto the skin, dig in its feeding apparatus, and then bite. When the tick is full, it swells in size. Then it drops off the host, only to repeat the cycle again later.
Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected blacklegged ticks. Steps to prevent Lyme disease include using insect repellent, removing ticks promptly, landscaping, and integrated pest management. The ticks that transmit Lyme disease can occasionally transmit other tick-borne diseases as well.
Applications are recommended based on statistics generated from the Center for Disease control studies that show reported cases of Lyme Disease. Statistically New York and Connecticut continue to be the areas with the most reported cases of Lyme Disease. Organic Treatments to reduce tick population are available upon request. As well as a free risk assessment for you property.
Please contact us if you are interested in our Tick Protection program.
Posted on March 20, 2012 with No Comments
Lyme disease is the most commonly reported vector-borne disease in the United States, with the majority of cases occurring in the Northeast. It has been three decades since the agent of the disease, the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, and the ticks that vector it were identified. However, the number of Lyme disease cases have steadily increased.
In a new article appearing in the forthcoming issue of the Journal of Medical Entomology called “What Do We Need to Know About Disease Ecology to Prevent Lyme Disease in the Northeastern United States?” authors from Colorado State University and the Centers for Disease Control assess the potential reasons for the continued lack of success in prevention and control of Lyme disease in the northeastern United States, and they identify conceptual areas where additional knowledge could be used to improve Lyme disease prevention and control strategies.
Some of these areas include:
1) identifying critical host infestation rates required to maintain enzootic transmission of B. burgdorferi,
2) understanding how habitat diversity and forest fragmentation impacts acarological risk of exposure to B. burgdorferi and the ability of interventions to reduce risk,
3) quantifying the epidemiological outcomes of interventions focusing on ticks or vertebrate reservoirs, and
4) refining knowledge of how human behavior influences Lyme disease risk and identifying barriers to the adoption of personal protective measures and environmental tick management.
The article briefly summarizes existing prevention and control strategies and tools aimed at reducing human exposure to vector ticks and B. burgdorferi, and highlights conceptual areas where additional studies on the enzootic transmission cycle or the human-tick interface are needed to fill in the knowledge gaps preventing the development of novel, more effective Lyme disease prevention strategies and tools or the implementation of existing ones.
Because the likelihood of human exposure to the tick and the pathogen both can be influenced by human behavior, the authors focus not only on the density of infected ticks, which represents the fundamental (or acarological) risk of human exposure to B. burgdorferi, but they also provide an overview of studies that identify behavioral risk factors and explore areas where additional information in this field are needed.
Story Source: The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Entomological Society of America. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Posted on March 15, 2012 with No Comments
Richard Ostfeld is Senior Scientist and Animal Ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York. His research has been featured in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Newsweek, Time, NPR, and BBC News. While much attention has been given to deer, when unraveling the ecology of Lyme disease, Ostfeld shows that the critical factors are mice, acorns, biodiversity, and land-use patterns.
In 2010 Ostfeld published a book, Lyme Disease – The Ecology of a Complex System. In this book he discusses the importance of looking at human infectious disease as an ecological system; why intact forests with a diversity of vertebrates (opossum, squirrel, fox, etc.) are vital to human and ecological health; why Lyme disease is an excellent model system for understanding other infectious diseases that are transmitted from non-human animals to humans, such as SARS and West Nile virus and links between landscape management and human health
Posted on March 15, 2012 with 1 Comment
If you have acorns in your yard, you should read this article about acorns, mice and lyme disease. Dr. Richard S. Ostfeld of the Millbrook, New York, describes the situation in detail and says:
“The northeastern United States faces potentially “the worst year yet” for Lyme disease and other tickborne infections because of the periodic abundance of a little-noticed component of the disease’s complex ecology: acorns.
Dr. Richard S. Ostfeld of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York, explained during a presentation Tuesday at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases (ICEID) that a heavy crop of acorns in 2010 — a phenomenon known as a “mast year” — fueled a 2011 population bloom in white-footed mice, which stash acorns for winter food and begin breeding earlier in years when they are well-fed. That surge intersected with the two-year lifecycle of the ticks that transmit Lyme disease, for which mice are the key host, and this summer could produce a bumper crop of infected tick nymphs looking to bite large mammals — including humans.
“We’re already working with health departments” in Lyme-endemic areas to help craft messages to the public about the potential risk, Ostfeld said during his talk.
The prediction, which is based on earlier work by Ostfeld and colleagues (including these papers in 2006, 2005 and 2001) relies on the key role that white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) play in perpetuating Lyme disease. That species, he said, appears to be the most competent reservoir for Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterial cause of Lyme. Mice sustain the infection without cost to themselves, are frequently bitten by tick larvae, and groom off or otherwise kill the larvae at lesser rates than other small mammals that are bitten — allowing the larvae to drop off naturally and complete their transformation into tick nymphs that transmit infection in their second year of life.
Mice also can survive in much smaller areas than the larger animals, chiefly deer, that are usually blamed for perpetuating Lyme, Ostfeld pointed out. In sampling of “forest fragments” sliced up by development in three northeastern states, his team has not found a parcel in which mice did not thrive. Larger parcels with more balanced ecosystems, with natural mouse predators and larger mammals, actually tend to have lower Lyme density, he said.
Because of the yearlong gaps between bumper crops of acorns, mice, and then ticks, the reliable but irregular masting phenomenon could be used as an early-warning signal for Lyme exposure risks, Ostfeld pointed out. Oak trees mast roughly every three to five years, “and when you are in a mast year, you always know it,” he said.
Cite: Osterfeld R. “Ecological Drivers of Tickborne Diseases in North America.” 8th International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases, Atlanta, Ga. March 13, 2012.
Posted on March 4, 2012 with No Comments
Scientists find fungus that kills Lyme disease-carrying ticks
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Local scientists have found a way to control the ticks responsible for passing Lyme disease on to humans. A new natural pesticide, derived from a strain of fungus that is deadly to the black-legged tick could help keep tick populations under control.
Unlike some synthetic pesticides that can be dangerous for more than just ticks, the fungus does not harm honeybees, earthworms or other beneficial insects.
The product was developed by a Fairfield-based company that was bought out by the Danish industrial biotechnology company Novozymes.
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station’s field trials of the fungus helped obtain federal Environmental Protection Agency registration. Novozymes has built a plant in Canada to mass produce the product, Tick-Ex.
It will be commercially available in 2014, said Kirby Stafford, the station’s vice director and chief entomologist.
“A lot of people do have their yards sprayed with pesticides, and they are quite effective, because synthetic materials will give you an 85 to 100 percent success rate,” Stafford said. “But there are a special number of people who don’t want to use them. The (organic product) may be slightly less effective, but it’s giving people options. It certainly would fit in to organic land care.”
The pesticide is made of the F52 strain of the Metarhizium anisopliae fungus, which occurs naturally in soil. The station tested it on residential properties in northwestern Connecticut and found up to 74 percent fewer ticks after treatment.
Although rates dipped slightly in 2010, the number of people in Connecticut with Lyme disease has been steadily rising, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Connecticut has the nation’s highest number of cases, relative to population. The first symptoms of the disease include headache, fever and rashes. But if left untreated, the disease can spread to the joints, heart and nervous system.
The overabundant deer population is one reason the disease is so widespread, according to the state Department of Public Health. Black-legged ticks feed on large mammal hosts, which in Connecticut are usually deer.
Many Lyme disease experts have said the solution is to cull the deer, but research shows that is only really effective when the deer are culled to very low numbers, said Louis Magnarelli, director of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.
The station has researched a number of methods to control Lyme disease.
It found nootkatone, a component of essential oil from Alaskan Yellow Cedar and grapefruit is toxic to ticks, and is highly effective.
As tests wind down, there is a small chance a company will pick it up because the cedar oil is only produced at a grade suitable for cosmetics and foods, making it expensive. Until production is scaled up for more commercial uses, it won’t be used to eradicate ticks, Stafford said. The station has also tested a garlic spray product, which suppresses tick activity for around two weeks. Scientists in Maine discovered that a rosemary oil product, EcoEXEMPT, will eradicate ticks for at least two weeks.
The nationwide tick control research community is pretty small, Stafford said. Between 2001 and 2012, the state Department of Health and the agricultural experiment station have received a little more than $2 million for public outreach and tick control research from the CDC. The CDC was expected to hand out two tick control grants in 2011, but based on available funds ended up only distributing one, which went to a research laboratory in Rhode Island.
Studies have found the fungus strain is also effective in killing bed bugs, but it won’t be marketed for that use just yet.
“I can’t see spreading the spores of this fungus into a bedroom,” Stafford said. “But it begs for a formulation of how you expose it to just the targets and not the rest of the environment.”
(c)2012 the Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, Conn.)
Distributed by MCT Information Services
Posted on June 2, 2011 with No Comments
We all know how pesky mosquitoes can be, and how uncomfortable we become when they are present. The spring and summer 
season brings not only warmer temperatures, but greater moisture and precipitation. With the recent spring rain having followed such a snowy winter, we are noticing high levels of mosquito activity very early in the summer season. In addition to the discomfort we endure from these pests’ itchy bites, mosquitoes represent a human health risk with their ability to spread various diseases including West Nile Virus and St. Louis Encephalitis.
Mosquitoes lay their eggs and spend most of their life cycle in and around moist areas. Draining buckets, birdbaths, or other potential basins for stagnant water, as well as sealing entryways into the home with proper screening will help to reduce the severity of mosquito activity in and around your home. At JP McHale Pest Management, we offer our Vector Intervention Program, which targets disease-carrying mosquitoes as well as ticks and rodents capable of infecting humans with Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Ehrlichiosis, Hantavirus and more. Any family that has small children or pets could greatly benefit from this program which will help in the prevention of itchy bites and harmful diseases. Make sure you take proper action to keep yourself healthy and comfortable throughout the summer months!
Tags: Diseases, Flying Insects, Lyme Disease, Mosquitoes, Summer Pests
Category: Diseases, Flying Insects, Lyme Disease, Mosquitoes, Mosquitoes, Summer Pests, West Nile Virus
Posted on June 29, 2010 with No Comments
Today a local Rhode Island news paper published a story about how researchers from URI have noticed that there should be a decrease in ticks this year. They predict to see 20 to 25% less cases this year. That’s a pretty good number! A decrease in deer ticks means a decrease in Lymes Disease. A research lab at URI invests most of its time focusing on studying ticks. Scientists go around the state each year and focus on counting how many deer ticks they find state wide. Last year, since the summer was very moist, ticks lasted until August but scientists think the number of cases will decrease significantly. They still want people to be aware and take precautions so they will not get ticks. Wear long sleeved clothing when you are outside and repellent with 30% DEET. When you apply repellent, make sure you spray you sock and shoes. Researchers say you at 70% less likely to get bitten if you do so because tick crawl up your leg and then bit you. JP McHale is a Westchester pest control company that can conduct an inspection for your home or building to check for ticks and we have treatment for your lawn to prevent ticks. Simply contact us by phone 800-479-2284, email, live chat, facebook, or twitter.
Posted on June 23, 2010 with No Comments
Top 5 Summer Pests to look out for:
Ticks: Deer Ticks are coming out! Westchester County, New York, New Jersey, and all states are affected with ticks. They are very hard to feel when they bite and can be on your skin for days. The problem with ticks is that they can transmit diseases such as Lyme’s Disease to humans.
Mosquitoes: Everyone slaps their skin once in a while to get rid of mosquitoes, but they keep coming back. Mosquitoes can also transmit diseases like the West Nile Virus. When you go to bed at night, try sleeping with a fan, mosquitoes will go with the stream and away from you. Mosquitoes like to lay eggs in stagnant water, so make sure there is none laying around.
Consumer Reports rated Top insect repellents against ticks and mosquitoes. Most of the products contained 30% DEET. Here are some other ways to keep off ticks and mosquitoes: Ware long sleeved clothing when outside, ware light colored clothes, use yellow lights instead of white, use candles outside but position them in the corners and on the floor of the space, cut your lawn often, and tuck your pants into your socks. If you get bit by a tick, freeze the tick once you remove it so you can bring it to your doctor if you feel sick within the next few days.
Termites: Termites are very destructive pests that come out in the spring and summer. Colonies can form with thousands of workers. Read more about termites.
Carpenter Ants: Carpenter ants and termites can get confused with one another. The difference is that termites eat wood were the ants only hollow it out. Read more about carpenter ants.
Carpenter Bees: Carpenter bees are not only destructive to homes, but they are a nuisance to humans. Carpenter bees like to hollow out the wood so they can nest in it. Read more about carpenter bees.
To prevent all of these pests, make sure you have screen in your windows and doors. Seal all of the rips and holes. All of these pests we can treat here at JP McHale. If you’re looking for a termite exterminator, ant exterminator, bee exterminator, or a solution to your tick and mosquito problem you have come to the right place.
JP McHale is a Westchester Pest Control company. We would love to help you with your pest problem! Contact us by phone 800-479-2284, email, live chat, twitter, or facebook.
Tags: Bees, Carpenter Ants, Diseases, Mosquitoes, Summer, Termites, West Nile Virus
Category: Bees, Carpenter Ants, Carpenter Bees, Diseases, Flying Insects, Lyme Disease, Mosquitoes, Mosquitoes, Summer Pests, Termites
Posted on June 11, 2010 with 2 Comments
A few days ago, an article was published on wtop.com explaining how the amount of tick cases is on the rise. The tick population is growing and there are more tick-borne diseases that are being introduced. Once a tick bites a human, it has to stay intact with the skin for 24 hours until it can transmit a disease. Whenever you come inside from being outside, make sure you check your whole body for unusual spots. If you do find a tick, make sure you remove the whole body and all of the legs. If the tick is far underneath the skin, go to the hospital as soon as you can to remove it. Once you remove the tick, put it in a small bag and keep it in the freeze for a few days so if the tick did transmit a disease, a doctor can identify the tick and treat it properly. The article points out some tips to prevent ticks including the following:
- Avoiding tall grass
- Avoid walking where your lawn meets the woods. Do not brush up against bushes because ticks could easily transfer from a tree or bush to a person
- Use insect repellent that contains 30% DEET or .5% permethrin
- Wear light colored clothes when outside so you can see if a tick is on you
- Tuck you pants into your socks
- Wear long sleeved pants and shirts
- Cut your lawn often
- Get rid of places where rodents like
- If you have pets, ask your vet for tick control methods you can use
By following these tips you will stay healthy and tick free. If you are concerned about ticks in your lawn, JP McHale can help! Contact us by phone 800-479-2284, email, twitter, or facebook.
Learn more about tick control
