An NBC report last week said the rate of Lyme Disease infection in ticks tested so far in 2017 is up by 40 percent compared to 2016 in Connecticut, according to scientists.

Researchers with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) recently published a study that suggest an increase in the Lyme disease tick, Ixodes scapularis is associated with an exotic invasive shrub called Japanese barberry.

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The following is an excerpt from a press release:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The study can be found here: Long-Term Effects of Berberis thunbergii(Ranunculales: Berberidaceae) Management on Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) Abundance and Borrelia burgdorferi (Spirochaetales: Spirochaetaceae) Prevalence in Connecticut, USA 

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With its abdomen engorged with a host blood meal, this image depicts a lateral, or side view of a female blacklegged, or deer tick, Ixodes scapularis/CDC