Tag: mice and ticks in Lyme Disease

Did the U.S. government use ticks as biological weapons?

On July 12, DC lawmakers passed the fiscal 2020 defense authorization bill, which contained an amendment that would require the Department of Defense inspector general to investigate and report whether ticks, mice, and mosquitoes were weaponized with diseases to be used in biological warfare from the 1950’s to the 1970’s.

Lyme disease as biological warfare

There will be an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 confirmed new reports of Lyme disease cases this year.  Could our own government have played a part in the mutation and spread of Lyme disease?  How can this be possible?  Did scientists for the Department of Defense weaponize insects and animals, and were they purposefully or accidentally released into the American population?

Research, development, and possible deployment methodology in the towns of Frederick MD and Southold NY are in question.

Did this happen, and to what extent?  Fort Detrick in Maryland housed a laboratory, whose focus was weaponizing insects, such as ticks and mosquitoes, to be used as biological weapons against U.S. enemies.  Plum Island, the federally-funded animal disease research facility, is also implicated in the potential development of diseases and animals to be used in biological warfare.

Did the U.S. government weaponize diseased rats and mice?

In 1990, it was said that Fort Detrick had been accused in 1952, of infecting rats and insects, and releasing them in North Korea during the Korean war.  At that time, it has since been reported that Fort Detrick labs had the capabilities to breed 130 million Yellow Fever mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti) per month, and inject them with the disease.  It is said that these diseased mosquitoes were proposed to be delivered across enemy lines via warheads.

Are Lyme infected ticks biological weapons?
Research into biological warfare could still be used to help protect our soldiers.

In 1969, President Nixon ended biological warfare research, but research in how to protect American soldiers against it could have continued.

Why do we need to know if ticks were used as biological weapons so long ago?

Understanding how Lyme disease might have been developed or mutated to further or more quickly pass to humans could hold the clues to tempering the spread of the disease.  To truly grasp the disease we have today, we must understand its evolution.  Congressional budget approval could make or break new research into Lyme and developments in how to lessen or eradicate spread of Lyme.

Protect your Central Mass family from the threat of Lyme disease.

Dave Macchia, tick control enthusiast
Dave Macchia, Central Mass tick control enthusiast

Mosquito and tick-borne diseases are a true threat to our families.  I always recommending protecting your home and family with Central Mass tick protection and mosquito control.  Hire a reputable tick control company to allay your chances of a negative tick encounter, resulting in Lyme disease or other illnesses.

Westminster Tick Control – Break the 2-Year Life Cycle of Ticks

You might think the fall is the end of tick season and that you will soon be protected from tick Westminster tick controlbites with the approaching colder weather.  If so, you are partially correct.

Ticks in Central Mass will begin to go dormant in weather below 45 degrees F. by hiding in the nests of white-footed mice.  No amount of cold will eliminate ticks and there’s one other fact you need to know about the fall and ticks.

A tick’s life cycle is usually 2-years long.  Ticks that were eggs last fall are now nymphs.  They have taken two blood meals to reach this stage in their life cycle.  Because of these two blood meals, often taken from several small animals or birds infected with Lyme Disease, they are now the most infectious to humans.  Next spring these nymphs will leave the mouse’s nest.  They will be the size of a poppy seed, making them difficult to see on our Westminster MA tick controlclothes and skin.  After their third blood meal next spring, they will become larger during mid-summer and be adults in the fall of next year.  At this last stage of their life cycle, the males will fertilize the females and the females will produce a new generation of ticks in your yard.

Westminster tick control is available now, to protect you next year.

Now is the time of year to interrupt the tick’s life cycle in your yard and reduce your exposure to nymph ticks next spring.  By using a tick tube program, you can eliminate ticks around your home even before next spring.  The tick tubes are placed out now will provide nesting material, treated with tick insecticide, the white-footed mouse will use to build its nest this winter.  This nesting material will eliminate ticks in the nest without harming the mice.  The net result is fewer ticks in your yard next spring and a head start at eliminating your family’s exposure to ticks all summer long.

When you sign up for Westminster tick control spray treatments next summer, it will eliminate tick control in Westminster MA85-90% of the ticks in your yard all summer long.  Treatments are scheduled at your convenience every 21 days.  The spray will eliminate newly hatched ticks, nymph ticks and adult ticks in your yard.  Ticks brought into your yard by any animals such as squirrels, raccoons, fox and deer will be eliminated by the spray.  Using the tick tube program now and the barrier spray next spring through next fall will reduce your exposure to tick-borne infections.

The town of Westminster has posted an online document explaining the Steps You Can Take in preventing ticks in your yard.  The document highlights the importance of using a licensed applicator in treating your yard to prevent ticks.  A link to a Tick Management Handbook published by the Centers for Disease Control and prevention is also in this informative document.

A licensed Westminster tick control spray applicator will be fully trained and qualified in providing the tick tube and barrier spray services you need to protect you, your family and pets.

Dave Macchia, tick control enthusiast
Dave Macchia, Tick Control Enthusiast