Mice may drive Lyme disease more than deer

MAINE MORNING STAR • August 17, 2026

For more than three decades, researchers have been tracking ticks, mice, oak trees and other wildlife in a forest to better understand what makes Lyme disease more likely to spread. Their latest findings challenge some long-held assumptions — including the idea that deer are a major driver of Lyme disease risk. Researchers at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, a nonprofit environmental research group, found that white-footed mice, not white-tailed deer, are closely linked to the number of young blacklegged ticks, the life stage most likely to infect people with Lyme disease.