What is the percentage of nymph deer ticks that carry lyme disease?
Just went to Corolla, NC. We had a towel in the car that turned out to have LOTS of deer tick nymphs on it! (it was white!) Have not found ticks on kids but they are SO SMALL I could miss one. What percentage of nymphs carry lyme? And does anyone know if Lyme has been reported in Nags Head/Corolla NC areas?
A very good question. As I’m to understand ,each generation of ticks must feed on an infected host (most often a mouse) to become infected themselves.
In areas where the adult ticks are 50% infected, it’s not unreasonable to believe that nearly that many nymphs are "Lyme +".
Coastal NC is much more likely to have a high % of "sick ticks", though N.C. IS at the lower edge of the infamous Lyme-endemic NorthEast area of the USA.
You can check w/ a local health dept for specifics in that area. (I’m sure SOME of the deer ticks are harboring Lyme, though.)