Sand Dunes and Lyme Disease

Entry, Experiences
Jennifer Sidge, Michigan State

Manitou Islands, Michigan

Everyone loves watching the sunrise, but when you watch it ascend over Lake Michigan sand dunes, you just know it is going to be a wonderful day.  After racing up 117 steps to reach the top of a historic lighthouse that overlooks the Manitou Passage and South Manitou Island, your breath is taken away and you know it is not just from the climb up!  While enjoying a summer evening swim in South Manitou’s bay with the stars and shimmer from the nearby lighthouse reflecting off of the tranquil water, you know that the individual who told you, “If you enjoy what you do every day, then you will never have to work a day in your life,” is absolutely correct.   

 

I am a third year veterinary student at Michigan State’s College of Veterinary Medicine currently taking a year off from the veterinary curriculum in order to work on an additional graduate degree with the NIH Predoctoral T32 Training Program.  For my Master’s, I am focusing on Lyme disease ecology in Michigan-specifically along the west coast.  

Figure 1. Captured birds were searched for the presence of ticks.

 A very interesting question is presented by two of our Lake Michigan islands, which illustrates the importance of deer for the Lyme disease cycle.  Deer play a critical role within this system, as they help to complete the lifecycle of the tick by serving as a host for the adult stage.  North Manitou Island is the home to a small population of white-tailed deer unlike South Manitou Island, which is 5km from North, but does not have any deer.  North and South Manitou Islands are part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and this three way collaborative study involving Michigan State University, Michigan Department of Community Health, and National Park Service was the first time that Lyme disease risk has been assessed on the islands. Field days out on the islands, typically are all-day events.  We mist-net for birds, which allows us to search migratory and resident birds for the presence of ticks (Figure 1).  In addition, we use Sherman live traps in order to search mice and chipmunks (or other small mammals) for ticks.  Small mammals, such as mice and chipmunks, typically serve as hosts for the immature stages of the tick.  In order to determine the direct risk for hikers and visitors in an area, we drag a white-corduroy cloth in the woods and host-seeking ticks attach to the cloth as we walk (Figure 2).  

 

I am very interested in disease ecology and the One Health concept of medicine.  Earning this degree in addition to my DVM, and leading fieldwork investigations, such as our current island project, has really helped to expand and broaden my conservation medicine and vector-borne disease knowledge.  I have had the privilege of sharing and teaching these field techniques with over 45 undergraduate, graduate, andFigure 2. Dragging a corduroy cloth along the vegetation in search of host-seeking ticks.  veterinary students.  Gaining additional research and hands-on wildlife experience nicely complements our veterinary curriculum.  In 2011, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore was voted, “Most Beautiful Place in America.”  I entirely agree with this status, not only from a site-seeing tourist perspective but also from an educational view, as this location has given me (and many other veterinary students) the opportunity to further explore our beautiful field of veterinary medicine.