Field studies in the northeastern United States routinely find a single white-footed mouse carrying dozens of attached Ixodes scapularis larvae and nymphs. The Cary Institute's long-running Lyme work has reported individual mice with more than 100 ticks. The mouse is the principal Borrelia burgdorferi reservoir, infecting 75 to 95 percent of larvae that feed on it.
Ixodes scapularis takes three blood meals over a roughly two-year life cycle. Larvae and nymphs feed mainly on white-footed mice and other…
Roughly 95 percent of confirmed Lyme disease cases in the United States are reported from 14 high-incidence states clustered in the…
A single Ixodes scapularis nymph the size of a poppy seed can deliver Borrelia burgdorferi after roughly 36 to 48 hours of attachment.…
Dermacentor albipictus is a one-host tick: larva, nymph, and adult all stay on the same animal for the entire roughly year-long cycle. A…
Ixodes ricinus, the castor bean tick, is the European cousin of Ixodes scapularis and the dominant Lyme vector across Europe from Portugal…
An unfed adult Ixodes scapularis female weighs about 2 milligrams. Fully engorged she weighs 200 milligrams or more - around 100 times her…