série sur les tiques et les maladies qu'elles véhiculent / a series on ticks and the diseases they carry

Cape Cod's NPR station has produced a series on ticks and the diseases they carry. You can listen to it here

 

 

http://www.wgbh.org/wcai/tick.cfm

 

 

By Sean Corcoran


All this week listen for the 5-part series. Sean Corcoran examines the ecology of the tick: how it survives, how it travels, how it gets under our skin. Hear it during Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

There's growing awareness about the dangers of Lyme disease, as it and other tick-borne illnesses become more common. Disagreements about treatment and diagnosis are important and well-documented. But in the fight against Lyme, it's crucial to know where the pathogen lives when it's not inside us, and how it makes its way under our skin.

In our series, "Tiny Predators: Facing Cape Cod's Tick Problem" WCAI reports on researchers' newest understanding of tick ecology -- how they travel, how they live, and how they survive — as well as some of the innovations available in the fight against the tick.

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Part 1: It Takes an Ecosystem  (sound + transcript + photos)
LISTEN

In the first installment of our series, Sean Corcoran reports on researchers' newest understanding of tick ecology -- how they travel, how they live, and how they survive.

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Part 2: On the Move   (sound + transcript + photos)
LISTEN

Tick populations are on the move. One particularly troublesome tick is moving north and east towards New England, while others are expanding their ranges from this area and to the north and west. In the second installment of our series, Sean Corcoran reports on the roll birds play in the movement of ticks, and how scientists are preparing for their arrival.

Photo by: James Gathany, Center for Disease Control and Prevention

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Part 3: The Things They Carry   (sound + transcript + photos)
LISTEN

Lyme disease has persisted on the Cape and Islands for decades. But in recent years other tick-borne diseases have taken hold, too. In the third installment of our series, Sean Corcoran reports on the remarkable increase in tick-borne infections, and what could be happening in the ecosystem to account for it.

 

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Part 4: Lyme Epicenter  (sound + transcript + photos)
LISTEN

For decades, Massachusetts has held the unfortunate distinction of having some of the highest rates of Lyme Disease in the country. And Cape Cod and the Islands is at the epicenter of the problem. In the fourth installment of our series, WCAI's Sean Corcoran reports on the debate surrounding treatment and diagnosis of Lyme disease.

 

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Part 5: Tick Control  (sound + transcript + photos)
LISTEN

Ticks — and tick-borne diseases — have become a part of life on the Cape and Islands, and across the Northeast. To address the problem and fill a need, private companies are creating new products designed to help keep ticks off us so we can avoid their dangerous bites. At the same time, researchers are developing and testing innovative ways to reduce tick populations and take the fight directly to the tick.

 

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EXTRA FEATURES

The Point: Living Lab
Sean Corcoran and Heather Goldstone discuss in-depth the five-part series "Tiny Predators: Facing Cape Cod's Tick Problem." 28:00

LISTEN

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Extended Interviews:

	Scott Caso Because of Lyme Disease and its complications, Caso must now take upwards of 20 medications each day. LISTEN
	Brian O'Hearn After contracting Lyme Disease from a tick bite six years ago, O'Hearn suffered from shooting pains and fatigue, but the scariest part was a mental fog that he said made him feel like a different person. LISTEN
	Richard Sylver An avid gardener, Sylver is now scared of the outdoors that he used to love, because of ticks. LISTEN