Abstract

If you consult a medical textbook to learn about the pathogenesis of Lyme disease, you will find a standard narrative. You will learn the disease is caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, which is transmitted to people by blacklegged ticks . You will also learn that the natural reservoir for spirochetes in the Northeast is the white-footed mouse , and also likely be told that white-tailed deer are the primary host for gravid female ticks. And that is pretty much the whole story. This limited perspective that considers only four species—spirochetes, mice, ticks, and deer—is entrenched by a reductionist paradigm, one that belies the nature of a ..