Each month, the NSF Current newsletter highlights research and
education efforts supported by the National Science Foundation.
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please use the links below: This year's mild winter and early
spring were a bonanza for tick populations in the eastern United
States. Reports of tick-borne disease rose fast. While Lyme
disease is the most common tick-borne disease in the Northeast
and upper Midwest, however, new research reveals that it is not
the greatest cause for concern in most of the Southeast.
According to biologist Graham Hickling of the University of
Tennessee, the blacklegged tick species that cause Lyme disease
in the north do not commonly bite humans south of mid-Virginia.
"Ticks in the eastern U.S. collectively carry more than a dozen
agents that can cause human disease," says Hickling. Many
patients in southeastern states who become sick from a tick bite
assume they have Lyme dise