Tick-Borne Diseases May Spread More Easily with Global Warming
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California 
on 12.31.08
Photo via Getty Images
While some studies say global warming is not to blame for an upswing in tick-borne disease occurances, a new experiment shows that warmer temperatures are indeed a problem when it comes to ticks turning towards humans for lunch.
After noticing several instances of tick-borne illnesses affecting humans during particularly hot times, Didier Raoult, a professor at the University of Marseille School of Medicine in France, decided it was time to test out if higher temperatures drive disease-carrying dog ticks to latch on to humans.
To see how much the temperature, in particular, mattered, Raoult and two colleagues turned themselves into human guinea pigs. They incubated 500 brown dog ticks at 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 C) and 500 at 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 C). Then, they placed the ticks on their own arms.
Discovery News has more about what the experiment showed, and how rising temperatures could indeed pose a problem for humans when it comes to dodging ticks.
Via Discovery News
More on Global Warming's Effect on Health:
The Ticks Have it: Climate Change Not to Blame for More Diseases?
Warning: Effects of Global Warming Include Death
Global Warming Wants to Eat Your Flesh
New Worries about Climate Change-Induced Spread of Infectious Diseases
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I grew up in Northern Vermont and before 2005 I had never seen a tick outside of visiting relatives in MA or Long Island. Now my dog gets them frequently in the summer and I have to worry about going outside in shorts. I'm really not thrilled about it.
I do believe in anthropogenic GW due to GHG...BUT we need to stop this histrionic chicken-little behaviour. The true scientists on this issue are talking about changes on the scale of 10ths of a degree over decades. Other cyclical variations will overshadow these changes on a short-term and midterm timeframe. Such melodrama makes the claimants look foolish and discredits the rest of us.