As tick-borne diseases continue to be a source of growing public health concern on the Vineyard, a panel discussion convenes Wednesday to discuss a potential new approach to curbing Lyme and other infections.
With tick-borne illness on the rise, health agencies are turning their attention to babesiosis, a disease carried by deer ticks.
As the Island boards of health begin to engage in a five-year effort to battle tick-borne illnesses on the Vineyard, early field work from a group of medical students on the Island points to serious deficiencies in reporting tick diseases to state public health officials, especially for Lyme disease.
A broad-based effort to combat Lyme disease is now underway on the Vineyard, with the objective of better documenting and preventing the tick-borne illness that has affected untold numbers of year-round Islanders, summer residents and casual visitors.
Lyme disease may be carried to humans by the deer tick, but this time of year, it's not the deer who are playing host to this tiny insect. It's the Island's white-footed mice.