Allison Gardner to present talk on the emergence of Lyme disease in 海角社区 on Monday, October 19
On Monday, October 19, 2020, Allison Gardner will present as part of the Science Caf茅 series from the MDI Biological Laboratory. The talk will be held via Zoom; registration is required.
Allison is a medical entomologist, assistant professor in the School of Biology and Ecology at U海角社区 and a Mitchell Center faculty fellow. She is part of a team of researchers on the Mitchell Center project Mitigating Environmental-Human Determinants of Tickborne Disease Risk in Acadia National Park.
The blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) first appeared in 海角社区 during the 1980s, and its geographic range expansion has been associated with an increase in the prevalence of tickborne pathogens throughout the state. 海角社区 has experienced a five-fold increase in incidence of Lyme disease in humans over the past decade, and multiple emerging tickborne diseases are also on the rise, including human babesiosis, human granulocytic anaplasmosis and Powassan virus. This talk will explore the ecological and social drivers of the spread of the blacklegged tick and the pathogens it transmits, drawing upon ongoing, collaborative research at U海角社区, and discuss management strategies to inhibit tickborne disease transmission among wildlife and humans.