Japanese Barberry and Lyme Disease

The below story was aired in New Jersey, regarding the relationship between Japanese barberry and Lyme disease. It is done in a typical sensational network news style, but nice for helping to spread the word. A couple of great videos are shown in the original piece.  Click here to go directly to the full news story.  The below video is from the University of Minnesota.  It tells a similar story.

Why One Plant May Be Fueling the Spread of Lyme Disease

Japanese barberry, an invasive plant species banned for sale in New York and Connecticut, could be making an already bad Lyme disease problem in the tri-state worse. Brian Thompson reports in the fourth edition of a five-part series on the fight against Lyme disease.

According to the CDC, Lyme disease is the fastest growing vector-borne, infectious disease in the United States

Ever heard of a Japanese barberry plant? It's a small shrub, common in home and commercial landscaping. Acres of it grow wild in tri-state woods. Deer avoid it. Ticks, however, do not.

Japanese barberry shrubs are warmer and more humid than other plants, creating an environment where ticks can thrive and reproduce, increasing the risk of transmission of Lyme and other potentially dangerous infectious diseases, experts say.

Ticks have to be infected with the bacteria that causes Lyme in order to transmit it. White-footed mice, which are common carriers of that bacteria, often hide in the barberry's dense and thorny branches. One infected mouse passing through can transfer bacteria to any number of ticks, which then pass the infection to their next host.

Dr. Scott Williams, the lead researcher on Japanese barberry for the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES), told NBC Connecticut that the barberry is "the ecological perfect storm for tick-borne diseases." His team's research showed an acre of forest containing Japanese barberry averages a Lyme disease-carrying tick population 12 times higher than an acre with no barberry.

What to Know:

•Japanese barberry is an exotic invasive shrub that is well established in home and commercial landscapes; it's been seen in 31 states

•The environment it creates is conducive to ticks and white-footed mice; Lyme-causing bacteria is easily transferred from mice to ticks, then to next host

•One leading researcher says that makes the barberry "the ecological perfect storm for tick-borne diseases"

Source: Why One Plant May Be Fueling the Spread of Lyme Disease - NBC New York http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Japanese-Barberry-Plant-Lyme-Disease-451879453.html#ixzz4x0n9bh00

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Published at 7:39 AM EDT on Oct 27, 2017