By Georgina Scholl
2005-07-31
To eradicate Lyme disease, cut deer population
By Georgina Scholl
The public health response in Connecticut to the growing Lyme disease epidemic has focused on protective measures.

These include daily body checks, the use of tick sprays and wood-chip barriers around yards to reduce personal exposure to the deer ticks that transmit the disease to humans.

These measures, however, have failed to curb the rapid increase in the rate of Lyme disease. A radical new approach is needed.

A close relationship exists between the rising numbers of Lyme cases and the proliferation of deer across the United States.

Areas with high rates of Lyme correspond with areas of the United States that are highly populated with deer -- the Northeast, upper Midwest and the West Coast.

Lyme disease bacteria are carried by the black-legged or deer tick. It is now understood that in Connecticut the white-tailed deer is the essential large mammal host in the successful completion of the complex two-year life cycle of the deer tick.

In 1896, there were an estimated 12 deer in the entire state and no deer ticks. There are now more than 150,000 deer.

The unique role played by deer in the tick life cycle provides a real opportunity to effectively control Lyme disease.

By reducing the numbers of just one species to below the threshold for successful tick reproduction, Lyme disease could be locally eradicated.

An island community in Maine decided to try and rid itself of Lyme disease. And after only five years, they have achieved just that.

Their deer population had reached an incredible 100 per square mile. By 1996, 13 percent of the residents had Lyme disease.

Recognizing the source of the problem, and having failed to make an impact with chemicals to control ticks, the residents voted to remove every deer from the island. Remarkably, the number of new cases of Lyme disease has now fallen to zero.

Lyme disease has not always been with us. It was first recognized in a group of arthritis patients from the area of Lyme, Conn., in 1975.

The number of new cases of Lyme disease has since grown dramatically, paralleling the rise in the deer population.

Nationally, 23,763 cases were reported in 2002. Connecticut has the highest incidence of Lyme of all the 50 states. Fairfield County has the highest rate of any county in the United States.

The true number of cases is estimated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be tenfold higher, as many cases go unreported.

There were an estimated 1,004 new cases in Danbury in 2002, compared to just 70 in all of Hartford.

Scientists have concluded that Lyme is a direct consequence of the overabundance of deer. Reducing deer numbers in Connecticut could prevent Lyme disease here.

According to Kirby Stafford, an expert on ticks with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, "Deer are the key to tick abundance. If we could bring deer ticks low enough we could break the cycle between reservoir hosts and ticks. No ticks, no Lyme disease."

Studies have shown that reducing the deer population to eight per square mile or less is sufficient to prevent most if not all ticks from reproducing and will dramatically reduce the rate of Lyme disease.

In the last five years, many area towns have acknowledged the multiple problems caused by excess deer numbers and instituted deer-reduction programs through hunting.

Eighteen months ago, a new group, the Fairfield County Municipal Deer Management Alliance, was formed. It includes representatives from 14 towns, including Bethel, Danbury, Redding, Ridgefield and Newtown.

Last year, Ridgefield formed a Deer Committee. It has recommended a "controlled hunt" to reduce the town's deer population.

Many towns with plans in place to reduce the deer population by controlled hunts, however, struggle to make an overall impact on the deer population.

Much more could be done to help reduce deer numbers. It has been suggested that extending the hunting season by another month or two would be very effective.

Leadership from the state and national level would go a long way toward facilitating effective deer control.

Just recently, several Lyme advocacy groups, which have traditionally avoided discussing deer reduction, have come out in support of deer management to reduce Lyme disease.

Dr. Thomas Draper, medical adviser to the city of Danbury and co-chief of the Task Force on Lyme Disease at Danbury Hospital, is strongly in favor of prevention of Lyme disease through a deer management program.

He has conducted exit surveys at recent Lyme conferences and found around 90 percent support among health workers for "community efforts to reduce the deer population."

It is possible to reduce the number of new cases of Lyme disease through effective deer population reduction, but will people choose to make this decision?

It is well-known that deer numbers in Connecticut must be reduced to less than 12 per square mile to save the woodlands. So will people choose to go one step further and reduce deer numbers to eight per square mile? The rewards would be enormous.

With the cooperative engagement of public health officials, the state Department of Environmental Protection, clinicians and residents of the affected communities, it may even be possible to eradicate Lyme disease.

The first step is to inform people that they have the choice.

Like all animals, deer serve an ecological purpose. However, like Canada Geese, their numbers are way out of control.

then they can"hunt" down all those buck's.sneak up on them and when the buck ain't lookin',grab him by the hind leg's and.......

well,you get the picture.everybody body is happy.....gary

Deer are the most obvious vectors.

However, mice, chipmunks, voles, robins,(other bird spicies?), woodchucks(?), skunks(?) and other small critters are vectors, as well.

collectively, the second group probably poses a greater risk than the deer population.

Since we can't totally eliminate them all,
why not feed them something that will kill the organisms they are infected with , rather than kill the animals themselves.