One of the most popular campgrounds on Cape Cod had to be closed last year due to tick infestation.
The numbers can be explained but there doesn't seem to be a clear answer why all the diseases.
No choice but to use the permithin(sp?) every time out.

The incidence of tics carrying lyme here in the west is low I have sent numerous tics to the lab in CA all coming back negative. This information from the center for disease control was pretty useful.
http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/transmission/

The information on ticks from other parts of the country is scary.  I wonder if we're living on borrowed time in California, or if this part of the country is less hospitable to them in general, possibly because we have less rain and humidity?

Isnt the deer mouse also the one carrying the "Hanta Virus" which killed several who got into areas where they stirred up their feces?

If so, then I hate those mices to pieces!

DDT?

The main predators of tics are rattlesnakes and salamanders fortunately we have a healthy population of both. As well there is a brown salamander that lives here in the west that always has a huge number of ticks in its gills.
I have caught these with my hands and seen countless tics attached to the gills. This salamander (don't recall the name) secretes an enzyme which neutralizes the lyme bacteria. You can find all this info on line from credible sources I did not make it up.  

I don't know what Noah was thinking when he let two ticks on the Ark.!

Evolution?      

Lyme disease sucks. I know from first hand experience. The aches, pains, and fever are not fun.
A word of caution. The rash so commonly associated with Lyme disease does NOT have to be at the bite sight. If you contract the disease, you can have multiple rashes all over, and they come on quickly.
Don't hesitate. If you have any suspicions, get checked.
The common treatment is Doxycycline. This medication affects people differently, but the worse part for me is the sensitivity of sunlight.

I'm sure we have them, but I've never seen one here in Nevada. Makes me nervous though. Chickens will eat anything! You won't have scorpions if you have chickens, they take good care of them.

If you have no ticks in your area, count your lucky stars.

It will be 2 years this November that I've been battling Lyme. I'm winning... I think... and I'm now about 95% back to good health. It was BAD for awhile and I thought there was a very good chance that I'd die at any moment... and that went on for months. That's a really bad place to be.

I never had the rash. Only approximately 30% of Lyme sufferers will get a rash.

I was all-but bedridden. Stepping up or down a curb was agony and I crawled on my hands and knees to ascend the stairs in my house. The pain involved in getting out of bed and dressed in the morning was excruciating. My heart would stop and then beat out of my chest day and night, breathing stopped a few times and I had to concsiously tell myself to breathe, but mostly it was system inflammation that kicked my butt.

I tested 'equivocal' on the Lyme titer my family doctor gave me and I was full blown infected at the time. All the doctors, surgeons, and specialists I saw after that test turned their heads to the possiblity of Lyme, until I took it upon myself to go to a Lyme specialist and took the Western Blot through IgenX lab in California. Bingo, positive. Treatment began, and I've been improving since.

I take several prescription medications as well as an extensive list of vitamins, supplements, antibacterial and immune system boosting herbs, extracts, special diet, various forms of detox, etc. and it's working, but progress is 'painfully' slow. I don't care though as long as I'm headed in the right direction. I take upwards of 70 pills a day. My Lyme Dr. closely monitors my kidney and liver functions and immune response indicators... among other things.

I missed last bow season completely(first time in 30 years) because I couldn't begin to pull a bow back... heck, I couldn't even STRING my wife's bow. But I can shoot now. This year, I'm going... ticks or no ticks  

I've noticed a lot this year. And it seems like me and the boys are always pulling at least one or two off after a trip in the woods.....
On top of the sicknesses mentioned above my allergist recently told me about tick bites causing people to become allergic to red meat. He said its an allergy that's hard to figure out because it won't happen every Time you eat red meat. But the upside of what he was saying is that the allergy will go away on its own in time.
Back to your friend with Lyme disease I pray for a speedy recovery.

QuoteOriginally posted by Bowjunkie:

I tested 'equivocal' on the Lyme titer my family doctor gave me and I was full blown infected at the time. All the doctors, surgeons, and specialists I saw after that test turned their heads to the possiblity of Lyme, until I took it upon myself to go to a Lyme specialist and took the Western Blot through IgenX lab in California. Bingo, positive. Treatment began, and I've been improving since.

Hang in there Bowjunkie!  I hope you continue to improve.  And thanks for telling your story.

The last two years I went to southern Ohio in August to set stands and came out of the woods with thousands of ticks on me that I could barely see. They were no bigger than the tip of a pen. Talk about scary ticks    
Oh to answer the question I think a government experiment must have gone wrong.

Actually a lot scientists are running away from global warming.... "According to Hadley's data, the earth is not much warmer now than it was than it was in 1878 or 1941/"  A lot of science is showing that the earth has cycles.

yep I spent more time out when i was a kid with less ticks.
Got the big dog ticks, but never a deer tick.
This year Ive picked 3 off of me after they have nested in.
I hate em!!

We have always had wood ticks, but now have the Bear and deer yicks.Have had to have a number cut out. Not fun, fortunate to not have lymes. But the wife has. not good. Best defence is to do a tick check every day and always take your clothes offaway from the bedroom and throw in the wash after in the woods.

"There is no doubt that there is Global Warming, most Scientists agree on that"

yepper ......... been warming globally ever since that big ole ice age got over .....  its a good thing too ........... or else we couldn't grow corn in Illinois and we would most likely be bowhuntin fer mastadons and such critters instead of deer .

please splain to me why we had extremely hot summer in 1954 , the year I was born ......... was global warming already on the prowl ?

what about the dust bowl >>>>> was that gobal warming as well ?

Last year we had one of the hottest summers in years and all anyone could talk about was global warming and how the end is near .

This year we are having on of the mildest summers in my lifetime ........... is global warming on vacation ?

the earth goes through cycles of weather and has for millions of years ........ some years it is hot and some years it aint    

From Bill Carlsen

"The moose herd in NH is suffering a loss in population, in part due to infestations of ticks that can be so bad they literally bleed an animal of that size to death.

I am confused... are we still talking about ticks or are we talking about the government!!?? (LOL)  

Here in the east, the tick population revolves around the acorn mast crop...lot of acorns=increase in the white footed mouse numbers.  There have been several studies to control ticks on mice by gridding off an area and placing a pesticide in cotton/paper tubes for mice to pick up for their nest.  Non of these worked to drop the tick counts.  We see lyme, anaplasma, ehrlichia, babesia, and rocky mt spotted fever in dogs & horses with more being discovered each year.  All carried by ticks.  Ehrlichia was first seen in sentry dogs in Vietnam.  Most severe case are multiple organisms...tippit