The PCO-Public Health Connection

Ecologist Richard Ostfeld recently discovered a relationship between the size of the acorn crop in oak forests and an increased risk of contracting Lyme disease, a growing public health problem in many parts of the United States. "We call it the acorn connection," Ostfeld told Discover magazine. "A case of Lyme disease doesn’t begin when a patient walks into a doctor’s office," he says. "That’s just the culmination of all kinds of interactions that have taken place out in the woods."

You see, every few years oak trees undergo a process known as masting, whereby they produce a bumper crop of acorns, a reproductive strategy that ensures some acorns will survive and become seedlings. The acorns, in turn, attract large numbers of tick-infested deer.

"Meanwhile, white-footed mice are also enjoying the acorn boom," reporter Cynthia Sanz writes in the May issue of Discover magazine. "The mice, almost 100 percent of which are infected with Lyme from previous tick encounters, spend the autumn munching acorns and storing reserves to get them through the winter. That allows more of them to survive the cold, and it allows the females to begin breeding earlier. By the time the tick larvae hatch that next August, the forest is crawling with mice, says Ostfeld. And with more mice, a tick larva has a better chance of finding a host (very likely, a Lyme-infected mouse), surviving into the next year, and then passing the bacterium to another mouse."

As a result, Ostfeld has determined that two years after oak trees experience their mast years, the risk of getting Lyme disease in areas in and around oak forests increases dramatically, something PCOs — particularly those in the Northeast — should keep in mind when interacting with customers or marketing their pest control services.

As many PCOs know, Lyme disease is now the most common tick-borne illness in the United States, illustrating once again the important role insects play in a wide range of public health issues.

To enhance the profile of this important topic, PCT and AgrEvo Environmental Health have invited some of the industry’s leading technical directors to a Public Health Symposium in Chicago, Ill., later this month. The two-day symposium will address the key public health issues likely to impact the pest control industry in the coming millennium. Following the symposium, an eight-page editorial supplement will be published in PCT magazine for distribution throughout the industry.

So take pride in the important role pest management professionals play in protecting the public’s health and well-being, and look for our special editorial supplement later this fall.