MMCRI Vector-Borne Disease Lab Showcases Research Ahead of Lyme Disease Awareness Month

Researchers at MMCRI are finding out tick-borne ailments and how local climate modify is increasing the range of ticks in Maine

SCARBOROUGH, Maine – May is Lyme Illness Recognition Month, and scientists with the Vector-Borne Illness Lab at the Maine Health-related Heart Exploration Institute (MMCRI) are conducting a number of surveys and study initiatives this spring and summer season to improved realize tick migration and tick-borne illness, together with Lyme. Amid the projects:

• Robert Smith, MD, MPH, the director of the Vector-Borne Ailment Lab, serves as co-director of the Tufts Lyme Condition Initiative with doctor Linden Hu, MD, Professor of Immunology and Vice Dean for Exploration at Tufts University Faculty of Medication. The initiative encourages interdisciplinary investigation in all areas of Lyme disorder, including by investigating strategies to eradicate Lyme illness at its resource by blocking ticks from spreading the Lyme micro organism in the wild and by assessing new techniques to diagnose Lyme condition.
• Workers Scientist Rebecca Robich, PhD, is foremost an investigation of no matter if or not the sort of habitat ticks inhabit performs a function in the transmission of Powassan Virus, a tick-borne disease that can induce the viral an infection encephalitis.
• Workers Scientist Susan Elias, MS, PhD, continues to review the effects of altering temperature and humidity on tick survival.
• Vector Ecologist Chuck Lubelczyk is coordinating Maine’s statewide tick and mosquito surveillance endeavours, with quite a few members of lab distributing ticks and mosquitoes for tests at the condition Environmental Overall health and Tests Laboratory in Augusta.

“Lyme condition is a increasing public wellness threat,” mentioned Robert Smith, MD, MPH, director of the Vector-Borne Disorder Lab at MMCRI. “Understanding the two the sickness and the problems that let the ticks that have it and other diseases to thrive is important to finding new strategies to defend our communities.”

In 2019, Maine experienced 1629 verified conditions of Lyme condition, the highest incidence price in the country, in accordance to the Centers of Illness Handle and Avoidance (CDC). People today looking for added information about ticks and tick control strategies can find sources on MMCRI’s web page like:

The CDC also has numerous methods with extra details on vector-borne ailments on its site.

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Maine Professional medical Center (MMC), acknowledged as a Greatest Regional Medical center by U.S. News and Environment Report for 2021-2022, is a entire health care resource for the individuals of Larger Portland and the total condition, as nicely as northern New England. Included in 1868, MMC is the state’s greatest medical middle, accredited for 700 beds and utilizing a lot more than 9,600 people. MMC’s exceptional job as each a neighborhood medical center and a referral heart necessitates an unparalleled depth and breadth of providers, like an energetic educational application and a entire world-class biomedical investigate middle. As a nonprofit establishment, Maine Health-related Heart presents approximately 23 p.c of all the charity care delivered in Maine. MMC is aspect of the MaineHealth technique, a expanding household of well being care services in northern New England. For a lot more details, go to www.mmc.org.