New York senators are proposing several measures to deal with tick-borne Lyme disease that appears to be spreading across the state.
The task force report cites 462 cases reported through the first week of June in New York and a recent federal estimate of 300,000 new cases annually with only a fraction actually reported.
The bacterial infection, usually treated with antibiotics, is spread through the bite of infected ticks that are often carried by mice or deer.
The report shows it has spread far north and west from initial outbreaks on Long Island and the Hudson Valley.
The task force recommends studying tick populations and killing agents, bait vaccines for mice, public education and research into its links to other diseases and deaths.
(AP)
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3 Responses
Deer appear to be the chief cause of spreading the disease. Rational people would suggest seriously lengthening the hunting season. Note that venison does not spread the disease, only live deer.
You can already hunt deer in most of the state for 2 1/2 to 3 months.
charliehall : So instead of treating deer as a scare resource to be protected, treat them as a pest. Allow hunting 12 months a year, with no restrictions as to killing fawns and does. If by any chance they become extinct in New York, we can always borrow a few from elsewhere. Bambi may be cute, but they are spreading a disease, and their population is soaring throughout the northeast (probably since we deliberately made their predators extinct – wolves and mountain lions being rather pesty themselves – but hunters are preferable to four legged carniovores).