TICKS

Tick from an island fox.

Ticks

In 2017, two tick-borne diseases were identified for the first time on the CaliforniaChannel Island. Lyme disease (Borrelia burgdorferi) was found on both Catalina and Santa Cruz Islands, and a related disease, relapsing fever (Borrelia miyamotoi) was identified on Santa Rosa Island. Both diseases are known to impact dogs and humans. Understanding the extent of these tick-borne diseases is a current priority. Ticks are being collected from island foxes and pathology will be run on tick specimens to determine what viruses they carry.