Across most of the Northeast, getting bitten by a blacklegged tick- also called a deer tick – is a risk during spring, summer, and fall. A new Dartmouth study, published in Parasites and Vectors, finds that 50% of adult blacklegged ticks carry the bacteria that causes Lyme disease while 20% to 25% of the younger (nymph) blacklegged ticks carry the bacteria.
A team of researchers from universities, health departments, and agricultural agencies from across the Northeast conducted a meta-analysis of data on how many blacklegged ticks there are and how many of them have the potential to pass pathogens responsible for Lyme disease and three other tick-borne diseases in the Northeast from 1989 to 2021, including in Connecticut, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine.
Data was collected in Maine starting…