LymeNet Flash: What is it That Kills the Bacteria?

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»	LymeNet Flash » Questions and Discussion » Medical Questions » What is it That Kills the Bacteria?

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Topic: What is it That Kills the Bacteria?

metasequoia
Member
Member # 9325

posted

The woodrat discovery was a definite breakthrough, but it still didn't explain why the western black-legged tick's infection rate was so low.

The answer to that puzzle became clear very recently. Scientists have just discovered that western fence lizards, one of the most common hosts for the larval and nymph stages of western black-legged ticks, play a major role in reducing the incidence of Lyme disease in the West.

The lizard's blood contains a substance that kills Lyme disease bacteria. When a tick bites a lizard, the bacteria enters the lizard's bloodstream and dies, and when the lizard's blood enters the bloodstream of the feeding tick, the tick's body is also cleansed of the bacteria.

http://www.coepark.org/tick-info.html

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~Erin

Posts: 58 | From SE PA | Registered: May 2006 | IP: Logged |

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