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Sorry but you are fear mongering. Ridiculous to tell someone not to move to suburban areas.
Fear mongering is defined as "the action of deliberately arousing public fear or alarm about a particular issue".
Pointing out the facts of the situation hardly constitutes that, unless your stance is that we should avoid educating the public in order to prevent a panic.
Fear mongering is defined as "the action of deliberately arousing public fear or alarm about a particular issue".
Pointing out the facts of the situation hardly constitutes that, unless your stance is that we should avoid educating the public in order to prevent a panic.
Don'T take it personally. I applaud your post & respect your knowledge. Ppl have a tough time hearing your dissenting opinion (it's def not fear monger) b/c it is an affront to their suburban shangri la. Lyme disease is poorly understood & mysterious so it makes ppl queazy. And it doesn't pay heed to socioeconomic order and/or school system ranking *gasp* GOD FORBID the audacity.
There are an estimated 300,000 new cases of Lyme every year in New England, and some epidemiologists say the real number is much higher. Some MS patients are now suspected of having undiagnosed Lyme rather than true MS. Many people suffering chronic pain such as arthritis symptoms may actually have Lyme, though once the bacteria has settled into your neural tissue, it's extremely hard to get rid of even with massive infusions of antibiotics.
Even the CDC now admits that the number of cases is likely 10X higher than actually reported. The fact is that it remains alarmingly under-diagnosed, and when it is very few doctors in the area know how to treat it properly.
And btw it exists everywhere. The risk is of course higher in the woodsier towns, but it's not like it's impossible to catch in the denser suburbs or even urban areas. It should not deter one from living in a certain town that may otherwise appeal to them, but it is a serious problem that is preventable and proper awareness is needed.
No, it isn't. Because abductive reasoning goes to the simplest and most likely explanation. This theory is neither simple nor likely. Quite the opposite. It's tinfoil hat territory.
It may not be proven fact, but that doesn't make it impossible. The whole thing remains a great mystery; from how it suddenly appeared around the 70s and exploded since then, and how its greatest concentration is on both sides of Long Island Sound in the vicinity of Plum Island in a pattern that would be consistent with something aerial spread (how could deer spread it across the water like that?).
Last edited by massnative71; 12-07-2015 at 08:34 PM..
It may not be proven fact, but that doesn't make it impossible. The whole thing remains a great mystery; from how it suddenly appeared around the 70s and exploded since then, and how its greatest concentration is on both sides of Long Island Sound in the vicinity of Plum Island in a pattern that would be consistent with something aerial spread (how could deer spread it across the water like that?).
There's evidence suggesting it may have been spread by birds in some areas.
Anywhere vegetated inside 495 is covered in ticks and Lyme risk. The Vineyard is like a horror movie for ticks. They thrive in disturbed ecosystems without natural predators to control the deer and white footed mice. Suburbanites may think of the Blue Hills or Middlesex Fells as undisturbed forests and "nature" but they're pretty much just islands of trees in a sea of Massahole disturbance and aren't necessarily healthy examples of nature. That's why DCR has to step in and order a deer hunt at Blue Hills for example, it's not normal to have 85 deer per square mile and not only are they starving, they're helping spread ticks. I have friends in Milton and on a recent walk through the woods I pulled twenty ticks off me. They definitely don't go easy on anyone based on zip code affluence. Out here where we have a few real forests, I rarely get more than two or three on a bush whack.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
41,936 posts, read 36,974,024 times
Reputation: 40635
Quote:
Originally Posted by massnative71
It may not be proven fact, but that doesn't make it impossible. The whole thing remains a great mystery; from how it suddenly appeared around the 70s and exploded since then, and how its greatest concentration is on both sides of Long Island Sound in the vicinity of Plum Island in a pattern that would be consistent with something aerial spread (how could deer spread it across the water like that?).
Seriously? Deer are incredibly strong swimmers. They swim out to the harbor islands and I've seen them swimming across Lake Champlain. It's this type of scientific ignorance that lends credence to conspiracy theories.
And it makes sense that it has exploded, one because of our changing land use patterns and the effects those have on the native hosts and vectors for lyme (does not anyone not remember that seeing deer in the suburbs was super uncommon in the 70s, and definitely no where near the levels they are now, heck, MA introduced regulations in the mid 70s to protect deer from being chased by dogs, etc since the populations needed protection) and then add to it that we now are diagnosing it. It wasn't that it didn't exist before, it was that it wasn't diagnosed before.
There is no reason to go all government biowarfare... oh no, it's escaped the lab!!! Crazy fearmongering crud on this one.
I've had it. Just once. But I was lucky to have the bullseye marks and just took antibiotics and was fine in a few weeks.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
41,936 posts, read 36,974,024 times
Reputation: 40635
Quote:
Originally Posted by FCMA
Anywhere vegetated inside 495 is covered in ticks and Lyme risk. The Vineyard is like a horror movie for ticks. They thrive in disturbed ecosystems without natural predators to control the deer and white footed mice. Suburbanites may think of the Blue Hills or Middlesex Fells as undisturbed forests and "nature" but they're pretty much just islands of trees in a sea of Massahole disturbance and aren't necessarily healthy examples of nature. That's why DCR has to step in and order a deer hunt at Blue Hills for example, it's not normal to have 85 deer per square mile and not only are they starving, they're helping spread ticks. I have friends in Milton and on a recent walk through the woods I pulled twenty ticks off me. They definitely don't go easy on anyone based on zip code affluence. Out here where we have a few real forests, I rarely get more than two or three on a bush whack.
Blue Hills definitely aren't healthy forests. It's like a park. No understory. But I have to say, so far all the ticks I've pulled off me from there are wood ticks, not deer.
Seriously? Deer are incredibly strong swimmers. They swim out to the harbor islands and I've seen them swimming across Lake Champlain. It's this type of scientific ignorance that lends s.
Ok ok ok deer can swim. But isn't it more likely they took the ferry? Only question I have is how'd they pay for a ticket
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