1 / 32

The Ecology of Lyme Disease o aks, moths, mice, gypsy moths, and lyme disease

The Ecology of Lyme Disease o aks, moths, mice, gypsy moths, and lyme disease. Gypsy Moth Defoliation (1975-2008). The white-footed mouse can regulate gypsy moth populations. While gypsy moth populations have been down the incidence of Lyme disease has increased What is going on?.

lorant
Download Presentation

The Ecology of Lyme Disease o aks, moths, mice, gypsy moths, and lyme disease

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Ecology of Lyme Disease oaks, moths, mice, gypsy moths, and lyme disease

  2. Gypsy Moth Defoliation (1975-2008)

  3. The white-footed mouse can regulate gypsy moth populations

  4. While gypsy moth populations have been down the incidence of Lyme disease has increased What is going on?

  5. Lyme Disease Biology Caused by the spirochete bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi Vectored by ticks (in California Ixodes pacificus) Vector: any agent that carries and transmits an infectious agent

  6. A Community of Borrelia Hosts western fence lizard eastern chipmunk dusky-footed woodrat white-footed mouse Target Hosts our best friends mom and dad white-tail deer

  7. Lyme Disease Symptoms Within a few days: Skin rash 3-30 days after tick bite Within days or weeks: Fatigue Chills Fever Headache Muscle and joint aches Swollen lymph nodes Bell’s Palsy (loss of muscle tone on one side of the face) Long-term neurological problems: Problems with concentration Short-term memory loss Severe arthritis and joint pain Erythema migrans (~70% cases)

  8. Lyme Disease History did it just appear in the 1970s? 1883: The first record of a condition like Lyme Disease 1921: Joint problems disease is associated with Ixodes scapularis ticks 1975: Cluster of cases of rashes and swollen joints in Lyme, Connecticut 1982: Borrelia burgdorferi is discovered by Dr. Willy Burgdorfer

  9. How do you show that a particular microbe causes a disease? Koch’s postulates To establish that an organism causes disease, is must be: found in all cases of the disease examined, while absent in healthy organisms prepared and maintained in a pure culture (some practical difficulties here) capable of producing the original infection (some ethical difficulties here) retrievable from an inoculated animal and cultured again

  10. Tick life cycle (Ixodes scapularis)

  11. Risk to humans determined by: density of nymphal ticks infection prevalence in nymphal ticks human behavior feeding mostly deer Eggs uninfected Adult Stage Larvae uninfected Nymphal Stage feeding humans are at risk feeding one chance to pick up Borrelia infection before nymphal stage

  12. How Does the Host Community Affect Disease Risk disease risk = lyme disease cases Decreased Disease Risk Increased Disease Risk Amplification Adding a species to a community increases the total abundance of hosts for the pathogen, increasing the disease risk to the target host Dilution Adding a species to a community decreases the abundance of more competent hosts, decreasing the disease risk to the target host Each tick feeds only once per stage Feedings spent on poorly-competent hosts are wasted for the disease Competence (for hosts) The efficiency with which a host acquires and spreads a pathogen

  13. How Does the Host Community Affect Disease Risk disease risk = lyme disease cases White footed mice are a preferred host = more ticks White footed mice are a competent host = more infected ticks

  14. How Does the Host Community Affect Disease Risk disease risk = lyme disease cases Increased mammal diversity = more ticks, less ticks, who knows Increased mammal diversity = less infected ticks

  15. Biodiversity and Disease Risk

  16. Biodiversity and Disease Risk

  17. Tick life cycle (Ixodes pacificus)

  18. Reservoir competence Hosts differ in their efficiency at acquiring and spreading the Borrelia spirochete somewhat competent totally incompetent highly competent dusky-footed woodrat Neotomafuscipes deer mouse Peromyscus maniculatus western fence lizard Sceloporusoccidentalis

  19. The Lizard That Fights Lyme Disease Proteins found in the blood of S. occidentalis kill the Borrelia spirochete

  20. Tick life cycle (Ixodes pacificus)

  21. The Lizard That Fights Lyme Disease

  22. Prevalence of the Borrelia spirochete ≈ 30% - 60% Prevalence of the Borrelia spirochete ≈ 1% - 2%

  23. Does the Forest Community Affect Disease Risk?

  24. Does the Forest Community Affect Disease Risk? ? ? ? ?

  25. What about gypsy moths?

  26. Mast production, or masting, refers to the synchronous, episodic production of heavy seed crops by a population of plants Red oaks (Quercus rubra) mast every 3-5 years What are the ecological benefits of masting?

  27. Type II Functional Response Handling-Mediated Specialization

  28. Tick life cycle (Ixodes scapularis) disease risk is maximized 2 years following mast production

More Related