5 ms·
They are the ticks that carry Lyme.
by newbie12 13y ago
They are the ticks that carry Lyme.
- randomchars 13y agoNot the only ones. There are no deer ticks in Europe, yet we still have Lyme disease.
- _delirium 13y agoDue to Europe's lower concentration of wild animals and higher concentration of farm animals, the role of deer for the north-American deer tick seems to be played primarily by sheep and cattle for the European Ixodes ricinus. I suppose one way of fighting it analogously might be to reduce populations of sheep and cattle, but that seems likely to run into opposition.
- Ergomane 13y agoWhile it is called the 'sheep tick' around here, Ixodes ricinus has a number of hosts, including mice, deer and birds (eg black birds, robins) that contribute to the spread and maintenance of the species in forests and woodlands. Roe deer often carry all tick stages (larvae, nymphs and adults).
- Tichy 13y agoInteresting that it's yet another way that our meat eating habit bites us back.
- pc86 13y agoOh come on.
- Tichy 13y agoWhat? Lot's of diseases are a result of animal farming - see "Guns, Germs and Steel" for an account of how the germs we bred in Europe helped deplete the New World of people who weren't exposed to animal farming yet. And modern factory farming will add it's share (antibiotics resistances and so on).
- TheCraiggers 13y agoNevermind all the ways our "water drinking habit" bites us back. We are omnivores. We need vegetables AND meat to be healthy. I think what you meant to say is it's another way our overpopulation is biting us back. If we didn't have so many people we could still have normal herd sizes. (Granted, it's likely the prevalence of said food that led to overpopulation... oh nevermind.)
- _delirium 13y agoAnimal consumption has scaled considerably faster than population, so I don't think it's solely that. The traditional Mediterranean diet, for example, uses much less meat than is now commonly consumed in the Mediterranean countries. My guess is some mixture of affluence (can afford to import meat from faraway factory farms), the factory-ization itself (meat is a cheap-ish commodity), and decline in cooking skills and time available to use them (most good vegetable-heavy dishes take more time and skill to cook than a hamburger does).
- asdasf 13y agoThat is not what omnivore means. We do not need vegetables or meat, we are simply able to derive sustenance from both.
- TheCraiggers 13y agoLots of people who have died from scurvy would like to debate that with you.
- asdasf 13y agoThey would lose, you can get vitamin C just fine from either a plant only diet or a meat only diet. Organ meat is a good source of vitamin C, especially liver.
- Tichy 13y agoEnough people are living as vegetarians to counter your claim of meat being necessary. Even so, meat consumption per person seems to go up everywhere, so even if you assume people need meat, a century ago they needed a lot less meat per person somehow.
- randomchars 13y agoI'm not sure if that would work. I live in a big city, and ticks are an issue here too, while there is no cattle anywhere to be seen.
- teahat 13y agoRound the corner from my house in Richmond Park (London), there is a large population of deer who carry the bacterium that causes Lyme disease (and apparently several other exciting ailments) and is spread by ticks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_Park http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_Park.
- bhickey 13y agoBlack legged ticks are the principle vector for lyme on the west coast. I learned first hand that you can find them on Mt. Tam.