( ensity in the subsequent year likely r...)A new view on Lyme disease: Rodents hold the key to annual risk

ensity in the subsequent year, likely reflecting their inferior grooming skills. Overall, the results found that acorns were the best predictor of Lyme disease risk--stemming from their crucial role in supporting white-footed mice, chipmunks, and likely other small animals, which in turn provide large reservoirs for B. burgdorferi. Acorns will not be a universal predictor of risk, the researchers acknowledge, since the disease occurs in areas without oaks. But the strength of these findings suggests that the observed link between increased Lyme disease risk and high rodent densities indicates that important food sources--or predators--of the rodent hosts of nymphs will be valuable predictors of disease risk.

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Source:Public Library of Science


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