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.
Note: Lyme disease is not only transmitted by ticks, but also by nematodes, mosquitoes, spiders, mites, lice and fleas, and certainly by entomopathogenic fungi (used from pesticide industry) that eat ticks. According to a recent study in Europe, 1-10% of mosquitoes carry Borrelia bacteria.