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Most human diseases come from nature, from pathogens that live and breed in non-human animals and are "accidentally" transmitted to us. Human illness is only the culmination of a complex series of interactions among species in their natural habitats. To avoid exposure to these pathogens, we must understand which species are involved, what regulates their abundance, and how they interact. Lyme disease affects the lives of millions of people
in the US, Europe, and Asia. It is the most frequently reported vector-borne disease in the United States; About 20,000 cases have been reported each year over the past five years, and tens of thousands
more go unrecognized and unreported. Despite the epidemiological importance of understanding variable LD risk, such pursuit has been slow, indirect, and only partially successful, due in part to an overemphasis on identifying the small subset of 'key players' that contribute to Lyme disease risk, as well as a general misunderstanding of effective treatment options. This controversial book is a comprehensive, synthetic review of research on the ecology of Lyme disease in
North America. It describes how humans get sick, why some years and places are so risky and others not. It challenges dogma - for instance, that risk is closely tied to the abundance of deer - and
replaces it with a new understanding that embraces the complexity of species and their interactions. It describes why the place where Lyme disease emerged - coastal New England - set researchers on mistaken pathways. It shows how tiny acorns have enormous impacts on our probability of getting sick, why biodiversity is good for our health, why living next to a small woodlot is dangerous, and why Lyme disease is an excellent model system for understanding many other human and animal diseases.
Intended for an audience of professional and student ecologists, epidemiologists, and other health scientists, it is written in an informal style accessible also to non-scientists interested in human
health and conservation.
Most human diseases come from nature, from pathogens that live and breed in non-human animals and are "accidentally" transmitted to us. Human illness is only the culmination of a complex series of interactions among species in their natural habitats. To avoid exposure to these pathogens, we must understand which species are involved, what regulates their abundance, and how they interact. Lyme disease affects the lives of millions of people
in the US, Europe, and Asia. It is the most frequently reported vector-borne disease in the United States; About 20,000 cases have been reported each year over the past five years, and tens of thousands
more go unrecognized and unreported. Despite the epidemiological importance of understanding variable LD risk, such pursuit has been slow, indirect, and only partially successful, due in part to an overemphasis on identifying the small subset of 'key players' that contribute to Lyme disease risk, as well as a general misunderstanding of effective treatment options. This controversial book is a comprehensive, synthetic review of research on the ecology of Lyme disease in
North America. It describes how humans get sick, why some years and places are so risky and others not. It challenges dogma - for instance, that risk is closely tied to the abundance of deer - and
replaces it with a new understanding that embraces the complexity of species and their interactions. It describes why the place where Lyme disease emerged - coastal New England - set researchers on mistaken pathways. It shows how tiny acorns have enormous impacts on our probability of getting sick, why biodiversity is good for our health, why living next to a small woodlot is dangerous, and why Lyme disease is an excellent model system for understanding many other human and animal diseases.
Intended for an audience of professional and student ecologists, epidemiologists, and other health scientists, it is written in an informal style accessible also to non-scientists interested in human
health and conservation.
Preface
Chapter 1 - Introduction
Chapter 2 - Discovery
Chapter 3 - It's the deer
Chapter 4 - It's the mice
Chapter 5 - It's the Weather
Chapter 6 - Questioning Dogma
Chapter 7 - Embracing Complexity: Food Webs
Chapter 8 - Embracing Complexity: Biodiversity
Chapter 9 - Embracing Complexity: Ecosystem Functioning
Chapter 10 - Embracing Complexity: Biocontrol of Ticks and Lyme
Disease
Chapter 11 - In Pursuit of Emerging Infectious Diseases
Index
Rick Ostfeld is Senior Scientist and Animal Ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York.
"Researchers and graduate students interested in ecological and
population aspects of Lyme disease will find value in this concise,
well-argued booklet, with its clear historical account of Lyme
disease epidemic, an up-to-date list of primary citations on Lyme
disease ecology, and a rich source of ecological hypotheses for
future studies. Especially, I recommend this volume highly to
graduate students and researcher entering the field of ecology of
enzootic
infectious disease (Lyme disease, in particular) for its values in
both as an introductory text of the field and as a vivid and
inspiring guide on how to build a successful research career by
being a
contrarian and iconoclast." -- New Biological Books
"In sum, this book is an excellent reference and very insightful
review of the history and co-epidemiology of Lyme disease. Focused
more on the ecology than the epidemiology of Lyme disease and other
emerging zoonoses, it will surely provide useful background and new
ideas to those interested in wildlife, vectorborne, and zoonotic
diseases, providing a
much more nuanced appreciation of their complex natural history and
interactions
with humans." -- Journal of Wildlife Diseases
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