Technofile : Ticked off

Illnesses such as Lyme disease and the recently identified human granulocytic
Ehrlichiosis that are carried by ticks may soon be curbed by a common
microscopic fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae, says Rosalind Lowen of the
New York Botanical Garden. The fungus invades the body of the parasite,
multiplies there and destroys its tissue. In laboratory experiments, the fungus
destroyed 80 per cent of the ticks. In the wild, fungal spores could spread from
tick to tick.