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Article: At the drop of a tick: a corps of Lyme-disease fighters meets its match in an army of arthropods. (includes related article)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- March 25, 1989
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1989 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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At the Drop of a Tick
When European physicians came to New Haven, Conn., in 1983 to hear U.S. scientists tell the tale of woe experienced by a large cluster of people living on the East Coast, they recognized the story. It usually begins with a red dot on the skin, encircled by increasingly faint rings. Weeks to years later, the saga continues with episodes of chronic or acute arthritis, neurological problems ranging from a stiff neck to meningitis, and/or cardiac malfunctions. The disease has plagued Europeans for nearly 100 years, but before the U.S. epidemic, no one had linked the seemingly unrelated array of symptoms to a single cause. Not until 1982 did ...