Dr. Gideon Wasserberg (Biology) received new funding from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) for the project “NCDHHS Contract to Survey Tick Distribution in NW NC.”
According to the abstract, the project will test the “New-River invasion corridor hypothesis,” which posits that Lyme disease spreads faster, by dispersing ticks, along the New River basin that acts as a natural corridor connecting the current southwestern Virginia hot-spot of Pulaski/Wythe/Giles counties with the high Lyme disease incidence northwestern counties of Ashe and Alleghany. Researchers will test this hypothesis using tick flagging in 10 sites: five along the New River and five in latitudinally parallel sites in the western Piedmont. Sites will be surveyed at least one time between November and January, and at least one time between April and June. Ticks will be collected (stored in 95% ethanol), speciated, and sent to CDC for pathogen testing.
