The work being done inside a lab in New Haven could protect us from a potentially serious foreign-born tick.
“I’m also looking at the engorgement status to find out whether this tick had the opportunity to feed on humans,” said Dr. Goudarz Molaei.
Molaei is a research scientist at the Connecticut Agriculture Experiment Station.
He and his colleagues examine all types of ticks.
These days much of his work is staring into a microscope at the Asian Longhorn tick.
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He had a meeting about it a few weeks ago with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“There are certain degrees of risks associated with any of these invasive species,” Dr. Molaei said.
The CDC is growing increasingly concerned about the Asian Longhorn tick.
He says overseas, the tick has caused massive infestations on animals, people and in the environment.
Another concern….the tick’s ability to spread fast because it can reproduce quickly.
A female can reproduce up to 2,000 eggs without mating.
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“That increases that tick’s chance to reproduce rather efficiently,” Dr. Molaei said.
The tick has made its way to the east coast.
Nine states, including Connecticut — Fairfield County — have reported sightings of it.
“That indicates that this tick is capable of over wintering in even rather temperate regions of the country,” he said.
The Asian Longhorn tick carries a variety of pathogens, but Dr. Molaei says right now, there’s little known about the harm it can cause here in the united states.
Rhat’s another reason they’re working so hard to try to find out what they can about it.
