121–130 of 180 posts
We have (had?) some ticks in our backyard and I came across these which I thought was a clever attack angle: tick tubes. Permethrin-soaked cotton balls in a tube, mice find them and build nests out of the freely available cotton, ticks that the mice have gathered while walking around die when they come back to the nest.
Then I am going to need some snakes to take care of the mice.
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Ticks are a problem regardless. And they don’t like too much heat. So climate warming may even reduce their population in some parts. Or, more likely, move them up north. Giving relieve to some and headache to others… Lyme disease vaccine would help a ton though. I’ve had Lyme 3 times by now. Thankfully encephalitis stab is a thing.
They don’t like heat? That seems incorrect. If true, Then why are they a huge problem in TX and other southerly areas, and are only now spreading north?
We do all the best camping in January and February. Why, you might ask, when it's usually colder than -20 C? No ticks. Also no mosquitos, blackflies, or deerflies but mostly no ticks.
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They don’t like heat? That seems incorrect. If true, Then why are they a huge problem in TX and other southerly areas, and are only now spreading north?
I think it's that they need humidity or else they dry out. So hot and humid is fine. Hot and arid is what they have a problem with.
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Ticks are a problem regardless. And they don’t like too much heat. So climate warming may even reduce their population in some parts. Or, more likely, move them up north. Giving relieve to some and headache to others… Lyme disease vaccine would help a ton though. I’ve had Lyme 3 times by now. Thankfully encephalitis stab is a thing.
So there's no natural immunity after having it once? How would a vaccine work then?
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So there's no natural immunity after having it once? How would a vaccine work then?
“Lyme” colloquially covers half a dozen to a dozen different bacterial infections.
Just like with syphillis, there is a cheap and simple cure that is more effective than any known vaccine. If it's caught in time. Prevention is even cheaper.
The standard treatment for Lyme also just happens to be the standard treatment for many of the other tick-borne diseases, so you're still better-off taking a course of doxycycline after a tick byte than getting a vaccination against Lyme.
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Ticks are a problem regardless. And they don’t like too much heat. So climate warming may even reduce their population in some parts. Or, more likely, move them up north. Giving relieve to some and headache to others… Lyme disease vaccine would help a ton though. I’ve had Lyme 3 times by now. Thankfully encephalitis stab is a thing.
> Ticks are a problem regardless. Ticks in my part of the world were never such a large problem. It was rare that you'd get one on your leg in the field behind our house, and now, you literally can't walk through the grass each year without having 10+ on your legs in a matter of minutes. Warmer and wetter weather and fewer hard winters. The presence of Lyme disease has also increased in them. I have direct experience…
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AFAIK there was a Lyme disease vaccine, but was discontinued, probably because it wasn't effective enough, I don't remember the details.
Typically because it's rare enough that the cost/side-effect risk of the vaccine isn't judged to be worth it. Humans generally aren't vaccinated for Rabies either, unless you are e.g. a veterinarian who might have a higher chance of exposure to it.
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So there's no natural immunity after having it once? How would a vaccine work then?
There are many strains. You will develop immunity to one strain, but not the others. I assume a vaccine would try to be multivalent.