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 Poughkeepsie Journal reports that opossums donât seem to be very good transmitters of Lyme disease even if they didnât eat almost all of the ticks they encounter. Ticks do transmit Lyme disease, and Lyme affects around 300,000 Americans a year.