In early July, 1863, troops from General Robert E. Leeâs Army of Northern Virginia (the Confederates) met up with a patrol of Union cavalry on the outskirts of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Over the next three days, this encounter grew into a turning point of the Civil War.
In the South, lone star ticks (Amblyomma americanum) can also transmit Lyme disease or a closely related illness. Ticks have four life stages: egg, larva, nymph and adult. In each stage after hatching, they suck blood from animals like mice, squirrels, birds and deer.
The ticks that cause Lyme disease are primarily found in the Northeast, Midwest and California. New Jersey is one of the eight states reporting over ninety percent of all cases nationwide. In New Jersey, Lyme disease is transmitted primarily by the bite of an infected black-legged or deer tick (Ixodes scapularis).