EAST LANSING, Mich. (News 10) – As cases of Lyme disease continue to rise across Michigan, researchers at Michigan State University are investigating an unconventional strategy to curb tick populations: treating the wild deer that sustain them.
Supported by new federal funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the research team is studying how to safely deliver oral tick treatments to free-ranging white-tailed deer across suburban and rural landscapes.
While juvenile blacklegged ticks often feed on mice and other small mammals, adult female ticks depend on larger hosts like deer for the blood meal required to reproduce…