Re: FW: Butler Island survey 6/2/05

[DAVID BRAY <davidliza@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Mary,

 

Thanks for the info.  I'm passing this on to the people at Butler Island through our link at list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Would it be helpful to you and your associates if we could identify the locations on Butler Island where residents, who contracted Lyme Disease, have camps?  I can fax a copy of the locations if you can give me a fax number.

Thanks,

David Bray

"Pierce, Mary" <MPierce@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

David and Barry,
Here is a map and brief written summary of our trip to Butler Island
yesterday. Alan Graham wrote it.
I hope you both enjoy the weekend!
Mary

-----------------

On Thursday, June 2, Jon Turmel and Alan Graham from the Agency of
Agriculture and Mary Pierce from the Department of Health flagged for
ticks on Butler Island. Four sites were surveyed for ticks: Two sites on
the northeastern shore of Butler Island, one site on the southern most
tip of the island, and a forth site on the western shore of the island.
Two 100 meter transects were established at the first and fourth sites.
Over the course of 3 hours on the island, 8 black legged ticks were
collected (2 nymphs, 4 females, 2 males). The weather was warm (80 F)
and sunny. The first transect had no ticks while the second transect had
two ticks. The rest of the ticks were found by random dragging with tick
flags at each site. All ticks will be tested for Lyme disease at the
Vermont Agency of Agriculture Laboratory in Waterbury.

We hope to make a second survey of Butler Island in mid to late June. At
this time we will use small mammal live traps to survey tick larva and
nymphs on rodents. We will also do some additional tick flagging on the
ground. White footed mice (at night) and chipmunks (during the day) will
be trapped, inspected for ticks, and then released. A tiny tissue sample
from rodent ear tips will be taken and used to look for the presence of
Lyme disease organisms in the mouse tissue. Research scientists at the
Medical Center at the University of Maine have offered to do this assay
for us and will look for various strains of Lyme disease that may be
present on Butler Island. They are doing a survey like this on several
of Maine's coastal islands and would like to include Butler Island in
this study. Nymph deer ticks will be pooled together from a single
animal and tested for Lyme disease.

We also hope to make a fall survey for adult deer ticks on Butler Island
on or around October 15, which is the time of the year when the adult
ticks begin to look for another host.

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