Our above-average temperatures this autumn are certainly keeping the scourge of the outdoors around. Don’t despair. There’s room for hope.
In Virginia, researchers are testing a “Roomba” for ticks, reports The Daily Press.
“The TickBot models a typical tick collection, which involves waving a white permethrin-treated cloth over vegetation and leaf litter where many ticks hang out to find a host. Researchers are relying on the Chesapeake neighborhood to test the technology so it can eventually be commercialized into an accessible tool for people to perhaps use in their own backyards.”
Meanwhile, some people bitten by the Lone Star tick develop alpha-gal syndrome, which manifests itself as an allergy to red meat, dairy, and other foods from mammals. In Missouri, researchers find that patients may grow naturally less sensitive over time.
“For patients whose alpha-gal antibody levels had started to decline, researchers at Washington University developed a nine-day protocol to safely reintroduce meat. In a recent study, 100% of eligible patients were able to clear the allergy.”