Let's get rid of Lyme Disease!!!

mirror

Sun, Jan 15 2017, 2:35 pm

I am sick and tired of hearing about babies who get Lyme Disease. It's time for us to do something about it.

I know everyone blames the deer and the ticks. The real source of the issue is the white-footed mice. The eggs of ticks don't carry Lyme Disease. The baby ticks live off the white-footed mouse and this is where they get the Lyme Disease.

The solution is very simple. Let's trap feral cats and bring them to the Monsey area to kill mice. How many feral cats do we need to do this? Please help me out here.

https://entomologytoday.org/20.....ease/

Quote:

Mother ticks cannot pass B. burgdorferi on to the 2,000 eggs they lay in the spring. Thus, when ticks hatch into larvae in the summer, they are un-infected. To move on to the next stage of life, a tick larva must find a source of blood for its first meal. The larva’s preferred meal at this stage comes from a common rodent called the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus), but it may also feed on other small mammals or birds. If the animal on which a larva feeds is infected with B. burgdorferi, the larva can become infected as well and will be able to transmit the disease to animals that it bites in the future. An important note is that humans and other large mammals are not considered carriers of B. burgdorferi like certain small animals. Levels of bacteria sufficient to infect ticks cannot be found in human or deer blood. Thus, since the tick cannot infect its eggs with B. burgdorferi, the bacteria depend on small animals like the white-footed mouse to act as reservoirs of the disease. It is only from these carriers that the disease can be picked up and spread by the tick vector.

Quote:

Bloodmeal 2 (nymphs): Infected tick may spread disease to new host
After its bloodmeal, the larva falls off its host and molts into a nymph, which will remain dormant throughout the winter. In the spring, the nymph becomes active and must eat again. If the nymph was already infected during its first meal as a larva, it can now transmit B. burgdorferi to its new host. Usually, this second bloodmeal is also from the white-footed mouse or another small animal, but sometimes it’s from a human.
This nymphal stage is the most dangerous for humans. Most adult ticks are so large that they are quickly noticed and removed before B. burgdorferi can be spread because a tick usually must be attached to its host for at least 36 hours to spread the disease. Tick nymphs, on the other hand, are only about the size of a poppy seed, so they can easily go unnoticed by humans for days.

Growing

Sun, Jan 15 2017, 2:46 pm

I want to help but I'm not really understanding what you are suggesting here

mirror

Sun, Jan 15 2017, 3:17 pm

I am suggesting that we get volunteers to set up traps for stray cats and bring the cats in the traps to Monsey and release them. The shelters all neuter/spay their cats they have, so the shelters won't help. We need cats to have lots and lots of kittens to cover the entire Monsey area and kill all the mice.

amother

Burlywood

Sun, Jan 15 2017, 3:18 pm

Why do I feel like ''''trapping feral cats" isn't a simple solution?
But I too am more than willing to help.

FranticFrummie

Sun, Jan 15 2017, 3:24 pm

Look on Craigslist to see who's giving away kittens. Spring is coming, and there will be tons of them. Raise them until they are old enough to fend for themselves, and then slowly start getting them used to being outdoors and independent. (You can toss dry cat food around your yard, and have them "hunt" for it.) The first generation of cats will be acclimated to the people who raise them, but all wild born generations will be feral.

Israel is swamped with feral cats, and I have yet to see a mouse or rat here, even around overflowing garbage cans. The cats stake out territory around the bins, and guard them quite well. They all look very healthy and fat, too!

mirror

Sun, Jan 15 2017, 3:56 pm

FranticFrummie wrote:

Look on Craigslist to see who's giving away kittens.

Just did. Nearly all of them are "fixed".

Chocoholic

Sun, Jan 15 2017, 4:39 pm

If you decide to introduce stray cats to your neighborhood, neighbors (adults and kids) need to be made aware that they have to be left alone. That they should not be scared, bullied or harassed.

amother

Saddlebrown

Sun, Jan 15 2017, 4:55 pm

Fellow landsman here. I really don't get it. There are plenty of cats around here and I have very rarely heard anyone having an issue with mice. I appreciate your good intentions but no thanks!!

lucky14

Sun, Jan 15 2017, 6:23 pm

wont the cats just cause you to worry about different disease and illness? There's rabies and I'm sure other things that they could pass onto humans.

Rubber Ducky

Sun, Jan 15 2017, 6:48 pm

How about a completely different approach, like a vaccine?
There's one in development that will soon go into clinical trials: http://www.businessinsider.com.....16-12

amother

Mistyrose

Sun, Jan 15 2017, 6:58 pm

I'm confused. I always thought one get's lyme disease from ticks after a hike. You're saying no, they are actually from mice? Okay, so what are your babies doing with mice? I'm just not following.

WitchKitty

Sun, Jan 15 2017, 9:25 pm

amother wrote:

I'm confused. I always thought one get's lyme disease from ticks after a hike. You're saying no, they are actually from mice? Okay, so what are your babies doing with mice? I'm just not following.

I think what was written there is that people get lyme from ticks. But ticks get it from mice.
But why is this under children's health? I know more adults than children with Lyme disease.

amother

Jade

Sun, Jan 15 2017, 9:50 pm

Theres a jewish organization for lyme disease I just dont have the number off hand. But please take care of it as it can have an effect on the person emotionally.

WitchKitty

Sun, Jan 15 2017, 10:03 pm

amother wrote:

Theres a jewish organization for lyme disease I just dont have the number off hand. But please take care of it as it can have an effect on the person emotionally.

347-389-LYME(5963)
http://www.yeshtickva.com/

But this thread is not about people with lyme but about preventing it.

And I'm still not sure I got the point. Mirror, are you saying that if we get rid of the mice there won't be ticks, or the ticks won't be infected?

amother

Aubergine

Sun, Jan 15 2017, 10:34 pm

The white-footed mouse lives in forests and wooded areas. Releasing a few cats would hardly make a dent in the WFM population.

amother

Ecru

Mon, Jan 16 2017, 2:11 am

As a women with severe Lyme disease who has done ample research, I would like to point out that most babies that have Lyme received it during pregnancy via transmission. If you want to prevent Lyme in babies the mothers need to make sure to be treated during pregnancy to avoid this transmission.

Iymnok

Mon, Jan 16 2017, 4:07 am

Have you read the children's book, "The King the Mice and the Cheese". Is that what you are aiming at?

mirror

Mon, Jan 16 2017, 2:31 pm

RDR wrote:

And I'm still not sure I got the point. Mirror, are you saying that if we get rid of the mice there won't be ticks, or the ticks won't be infected?

Both, the ticks won't be infected and there will be fewer ticks around.

"Baby" ticks live off of mice (mice carry Lyme Disease) and "adult" ticks live off of deer and other animals.

amother

Ecru

Mon, Jan 16 2017, 3:12 pm

RDR wrote:

By the way, AFAIK Yesh Tickva has closed due to lack of funds.

happyone

Mon, Jan 16 2017, 3:22 pm

Sorry op. In my neck of Monsey there's a whole lot of deer and I've never had an issue with mice nor have most of my fellow community members . Kindly keep the cats away.