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When we hear ‘invasive species’ around here we think of Oriental Bittersweet strangling trees, Japanese Knotweed clogging riverbanks, Purple Loosestrife choking wetlands, and Emerald ash borer beetle decimating our ash trees. These are threats to our environment that are visible from almost every road, path or hiking trail across the northwest corner of Connecticut. These are introduced species that adapted to our local climate, out-competed our native flora and fauna, and occupied the ecological niche formerly home to local native species.
What is invisible from your car window as you pass across the region is another invasion, one with big health consequences. It is an invasion of infectious disease driven by arthropods that act as disease vectors arriving in our county from elsewhere. Some of the most closely watched arrivals are the new tick vectors that have spread to southern Connecticut in the last couple of years. Most of us are familiar with the black-legged deer tick which has been in Connecticut for millennia and transmits Lyme Disease, Anaplasma, Babesia and Powassan Virus in mice, birds, deer and humans. What few realize is that there are three new tick species that have arrived in the state enabled by the rising global temperatures, movement of host species carrying tick passengers, and human disruption of habitat allowing the new arrivals to become established.
Lone Star Tick, Gulf Coast Tick and Asian Longhorned Tick have all been detected as breeding populations in the southeastern part of Connecticut and if the black-legged tick’s rapid move north into Canada over the last 20 years is a guide, these new ticks can be expected to move northwards at 15-40 miles per year. They transmit a whole new selection of protozoa, bacteria and viruses: Rickettsia parkeri, Heartland Virus, Dabie Bandavirus, Tularemia, Southern Tick Associated Rash Illness, Bourbon Virus, Relapsing Fevers, Tick Borne Encephalitis and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever to name a few. Some of these infections are often mild but some are more severe and some can be life-threatening. We are poorly prepared for these invaders with few diagnostic tests and not much in the way of treatment options, other than the fortunate efficacy of doxycycline, used widely for Lyme, against some of the new bacterial infections.
Ticks are not the only invasive arthropod vectors taking advantage of the changing climate and human-disrupted environments. Mosquitoes are also moving here. There have been Asian bush mosquitoes such as Aedes japonicus and A. albopictus spreading in the state for some years but the acceleration of warming will likely bring new invaders adapting to human-made habitat. The daytime human biter Aedes aegypti thrives in urban environments and its global spread has driven the explosion in Dengue Fever cases over the last couple of years. It is so well adapted to towns and cities that it can breed in the drops of condensation from an air conditioner. Viral infections like Yellow Fever, Dengue, Zika and Chikungunya are transmitted by Aedes species. Across Africa a new invasive malaria-carrying mosquito, Anopheles stephensi, is setting back hard won gains in malaria control. It’s another daytime biter that lives happily in towns and cities and is changing malaria from a rural infection of farms and villages to an urban plague like Dengue Fever. Could it invade here? Why not?
Global factors, mainly warming winter temperatures, are clearly driving these range expansions. To slow the spread of these invaders we need to slow the heating up of our planet by burning less fossil fuel and storing more carbon. But there are local factors too. Losses of native biodiversity due to human activity such as habitat fragmentation, intensive agriculture, and pollution open up habitat for invaders. Range expansion of new species is a natural process that happens in native ecosystems but it is reasonable to assume that an abundant and thriving mix of local species controls the expansion of newcomers through competition. We are losing these resilient ecosystems and the health consequences are unfolding as we watch.
According to Homegrown National Park [homegrownnationalpark.org] about 80% of U.S. land is privately held. A commitment to manage our property for native biodiversity will go a long way to restoring resilient habitat that can dilute the expansion of disease-carrying invaders. Certainly new infectious diseases will arrive in Litchfield County given the planetary changes already set in motion, but the level of impact they will have is still in our hands.
James Shepherd, Section of Infectious Disease at theYale University School of Medicine, lives on Smokedown Farm in Sharon.
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Michael Kashgarian
Jul 09, 2025
SHARON — Michael Kashgarian, MD (Mike), died peacefully at home in Hamden, Connecticut, on June 28, 2025, surrounded by his loving family and the sounds of his favorite Irish folk music. Mike and his beloved wife Jeanie (d.2019) were longtime residents of North Haven and Sharon. Mike was a devoted husband, father and grandfather, a distinguished physician, professor, colleague and mentor. He had wide-ranging interests – he was a music lover, a wine connoisseur, an avid fly-fisherman, and enjoyed gourmet cooking and travel.
Born on Sept. 20, 1933, in New York City to Toros and Araxie (Almasian) Kashgarian – both survivors of the Armenian Genocide – Mike was raised with a deep appreciation for learning and the responsibility to make the world a better place. He attended public schools and graduated from Bronx High School of Science, already showing the brilliance and curiosity that would shape his life’s work. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry and philosophy from New York University in 1954 where he sang tenor in the glee club and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Infantry that same year. He went on to receive his Doctor of Medicine from Yale University School of Medicine in 1958.
After an internship in Internal Medicine at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, and a research fellowship in Renal Physiology at the University of Goettingen in Germany, Mike returned to New Haven to join the faculty of the Yale School of Medicine where he became a full professor and served as vice chair and interim chair of the Department of Pathology. He also held a joint appointment in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. He retired as an Emeritus Professor in 2008.
Mike was a world-renowned, dedicated and prolific academic and clinician in the field of Renal Pathology, he was the founder of Yale’s Diagnostic Renal Pathology and Electron Microscopy Laboratory and also served as Chief Pathologist at Yale New Haven Hospital. His research advanced the understanding of the cell biology of kidney function, from the role of ion transporters to the mechanisms of acute and chronic kidney disease. He published a vast body of pioneering collaborative scientific work in renal physiology and cellular and molecular biology, including the Diagnostic Atlas of Renal Pathology, currently in its 4th edition. Among numerous awards and honors, he was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and recognized by Osaka City University, the Postgraduate Medical Institute of Saint Petersburg, and was a recipient of both the Jacob Churg Distinguished Achievement Award and Robert Heptinstall Lifetime Achievement Award from the Renal Pathology Society where he also served a term as President.
Mike touched the lives of countless students and colleagues throughout his career at Yale and as a visiting professor at over 50 universities throughout the world. Active in the Yale community, he served as the Resident Faculty Head at Harkness Hall, a Fellow at Jonathan Edwards College, Editor in Chief of Yale Medicine, secretary of the Board of Governors of Association of Yale Alumni and was recognized with Distinguished Service Award of Association of Yale Alumni in Medicine.
A lifelong learner with a sharp mind and a kind heart, he found joy in nature, music, and family. Introduced to fly fishing by his father-in-law, Harry Caldwell, he spent countless treasured hours on rivers and streams across North America. He was a longtime member of the Potatuck Club in Sandy Hook, the Walton Fishing Club in Cornwall, and the Tobique Salmon Club in Matapedia, Quebec.
He supported many charitable organizations and served on the boards of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.
But his greatest joy and pride was always his family. He was married for 60 years to Jean Gaylor Caldwell, who passed away in 2019. He is survived by his two daughters and their spouses, Michaele Kashgarian and Mark Rose, and Thea Kashgarian Obstler and David Obstler; and by his four grandchildren, Alison Gaylor Obstler, Eugenia Coley Rose, Andrew Caldwell Obstler, and Harry Caldwell Rose. He also cherished his extended family, especially his many nieces and nephews.
He will be remembered not only for his intellectual brilliance and professional legacy, but for his warmth, humility, generous spirit, and sense of humor. It was in his family, in the quiet of nature, and in the pursuit of knowledge that he was truly happiest.
Contributions in his memory may be made to The Michael and Jean Caldwell Kashgarian Scholarship Fund at the Yale School of Medicine.
Checks can be made payable to Yale University and mailed to:
P.O. Box 7611, New Haven, CT 06519-0611
Please note “Michael and Jean Caldwell Kashgarian Scholarship Fund” in the memo line.
A memorial will be held in the fall. Arrangements are with the Hawley Lincoln Memorial, New Haven.
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James North
Jul 09, 2025
SHARON — James W. North of Sharon, passed away on June 4, 2025 at the age of 91.
James was born on Feb. 2, 1934, and grew up in Stratford, Connecticut. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.
He made his career in advertising, working for many years as an advertising executive in New York City.
He was the husband of the late Joanne C. North.
He was the father of Brian F. North and of the late Laurie (North) Fox.
James is survived by his son, Brian F. North.
The Kenny Funeral Home has care of arrangements.
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