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Westchester's Louis Calder Center Is Tick Central For Research, Analysis

ARMONK, N.Y. -- Many folks keep track of the pollen count once allergy season starts, but how many know the tick index?

Thomas Daniels in the lab at Fordham's Louis Calder Center in Armonk.

Thomas Daniels in the lab at Fordham's Louis Calder Center in Armonk.

Photo Credit: Jeanne Muchnick
Fordham's Louis Calder Center is part of the Fordham system.

Fordham's Louis Calder Center is part of the Fordham system.

Photo Credit: Submitted
Bugs are a source of research at Fordham's Louis Calder Center in Armonk.

Bugs are a source of research at Fordham's Louis Calder Center in Armonk.

Photo Credit: Submitted

Fordham's Louis Calder Center, based in Armonk, hopes to change all that. The biological field station and research center -- 113 forested acres with labs devoted to the study of ticks --  lists the index for the week every Friday.

"Our goal is to let folks know, hey, maybe today is a good idea for a movie rather than hiking outside," said Director and Vector Ecologist Thomas Daniels, Ph.D.

According to Dr. Daniels, the Armonk facility, which is part of the Fordham system, is one of the few field stations in North America with relatively undisturbed communities near a large urban center. It is also the longest continuing monitoring facility in the study of ticks.

With May being Lyme Disease Awareness month, ticks are in the news.

Dr. Daniels explained that ticks are currently in the "nymph" mode. Nymphs are tiny -- "about as big as a poppyseed," he said  -- and difficult to see; they feed during the spring and summer. Their peak will be the end of June/early July.

"The lower Hudson Valley is the epicenter of Lyme disease," he said. And he should know. The Pleasantville resident has had Lyme disease three times, despite taking every precaution.

"Nothing is fool-proof, unfortunately," he said. He suggests being covered head to toe when you're out in the woods, using deet or other repellents, and always checking yourself and your family when you come in from outdoors.

"You have a grace period of two days before the Lyme disease bacterium can be transmitted," he said.

The Center, which employs about 10 people full-time but swells to about 30 come summer (they bring in graduate students from all over the country and during the school year work with area high schools), monitors and tracks the ticks on a constant basis. 

In addition, there are a host of continuing projects including the study of mosquitos, roaches and deer tick virus. This last one, said Dr. Daniels, is the latest pathogen concern as it can cause encephalitis in people and is remarkable in how quickly it can be transmitted (think less than an hour).

The good news: The infection rate is low -- less than five percent -- so most people will never encounter a tick infected with this agent.

Go here for more information and that all-important tick index.

 

 

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