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Printed From Acorn-Online.com Redding Pilot by Susan Wolf
No one is surprised to find there are deer ticks in the area, but the preliminary results of a tick survey have revealed a high number of adult ticks infected with Lyme disease in four area towns, including Redding. The average infection rate of ticks collected from multiple sites was reported at 60%. Three of those sites were in Redding — at Topstone Park, John Read Middle School in the vicinity of the Project Adventure area, and at Huntington State Park. Of the 78 ticks collected last fall at these sites, 57% tested positive for Lyme disease, according to the preliminary results of the study. The tick survey was coordinated by the Fairfield County Municipal Deer Management Alliance. There are 14 towns in the alliance that paid for their participation in the study. Besides Redding, the tick survey was done in Bethel, Easton, Greenwich and Newtown, but Easton did not pay to have the ticks tested for Lyme disease. Surveys of some of the other sites in member towns will begin in the spring. Previously reported rates of infection in ticks brought in to health departments and sent up to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station for testing has been in the range of 22% to 38% over the last four years, the alliance said.
Analysis Dr. Eva Sapi, assistant professor of biology and environmental science at the University of New Haven, is analyzing both the number of ticks found in each of the participating towns and the proportion of those ticks that carry the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. “All the ticks were collected from sites very close to playgrounds and picnic areas, as close as a few yards,” said Dr. Sapi. “Increasing winter survival of deer and reduced hunting in the suburbs is contributing to the growing populations of ticks in our towns,” said Dr. Georgina Scholl, the alliance’s research chair and its Redding representative, in a press release. “The crucial role of high deer numbers in supporting tick populations and consequently perpetuating the Lyme epidemic is not understood by many residents,” she said. “The white-tailed deer provides the adult female tick with the necessary large blood meal that makes the tick fertile and allows it to lay its 2,000 to 3,000 eggs,” Ms. Scholl said on Tuesday. According to the Tick Management Handboook by Dr. Kirby Stafford, Ph.D., chief entomologist at the state agricultural station, more than 90% of adult ticks feed on the white-tailed deer, Ms. Scholl said. Dr. Stafford says in this book, “Therefore deer are key to the reproductive success of the tick.” Connecticut Audubon’s State of the Birds Report 2007 concludes, the alliance said, that deer overabundance is one of the greatest threats to shrubland bird populations by stripping the understory and eliminating nesting habitat. There is also an increasing number of motor vehicle accidents involving deer, around 18,000 a year in Connecticut alone, according to state Department of Environmental Protection data, the alliance said.
Local survey In last fall’s survey, Redding contracted to have 100 ticks surveyed at a cost of $1,120. Since the entire number was not reached in this survey, the difference will be applied to the next survey. Doug Hartline, the town’s health officer, said the town would continue to pay for more testing, which is estimated to cost $1,750.The testing is being done, he said, “to develop a better baseline of tick information.” Tick data, particularly knowing the percentage of ticks infected with Lyme disease, is now vague, said Mr. Hartline. “This is more specific to Redding, and the quantity of ticks here infected with Lyme disease.” Referring to the results of the recent study, Mr. Hartline said he is not surprised. “We’ve been encouraging everyone to assume the ticks they find are positive, and to act accordingly, he said. That means using the proper care when taking off an engorged tick and bringing it to the health department to be sent to the state lab for testing, he said. He also reminded that people should be aware of Lyme disease symptoms and, if they have any, to see their private physicians. In September, Mr. Hartline sent an advisory letter to the middle school regarding the quantity of ticks there. He offered recommendations in the letter such as clearing away brush, weeds and leaf litter from the Project Adventure area and its entrance pathway. He also recommended that wood chips continue to be used there and replaced from time to time. Mr. Hartline advised that students and staff should wear long pants tucked into socks and long-sleeved shirts, and that everyone be checked for ticks during and after class. Students should also be reminded to shower once they get home, he said. “With Redding’s wooded, rural character, it is not reasonable that we can eliminate exposure to deer ticks,” he wrote, but added the measures he recommended would help lower the risk of contracting the tick-borne disease. Diane Martin, John Read Middle School principal, said on Monday that she had sent a letter regarding Mr. Hartline’s recommendations last fall to parents whose children might be going to Project Adventure. Once Project Adventure gears up again, she said, she will most likely send out a similar letter. With the preliminary results on tick infection rates being made available, participating towns will have to consider the appropriate means to alert the public, the alliance said. “At least three town health departments are placing warning signs where results of testing for the presence of Lyme bacteria were highly positive,” it added. Mr. Hartline said he will be asking the town’s Conservation Commission, which oversees town open space, for permission to post warning signs about deer ticks at entrances to trails. He also wants to post signs in a few of the town’s ball fields where the grass is taller and at schools, where needed. He will need permission from the school administration for this, he said. Ms. Scholl said she did not know when Redding’s new count will take place or what would be included for the other towns. This spring, she said, it will be decided whether to add new sites, to repeat sites or to look at co-infection rates — for echrlichiosis and babesios, other tick-borne diseases. “The alliance aims to raise awareness in the communities of southwest Connecticut of the health, safety and environmental issues relating to deer overabundance,” it said in its release. More information is available on the alliance Web site at www.deeralliance.com. © Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers |
