As the temps climb and many people head outdoors, particularly when walking through woods, underbrush, tall grasses or weeds, the chance of picking up an unwelcome hanger-on rises.
Warmer months can get buggy. But technically speaking, one threat isn’t a bug at all, but an arachnid (and not a spider in this case, either). Ticks can be more than an annoyance; they may transmit disease when they bite into human skin, and hold fast. And that threat is growing.
According to a report released in May by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, disease cases from mosquito, flea and tick bites in the U.S. tripled from 2004 to 2016. That coincides with a significant increase in the known range of species like the blacklegged tick, which — when infected with the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi or Borrelia mayonii — can transmit Lyme disease.
[See: How to Avoid Summer Pest Risks — From West Nile to Chikungunya Virus.]
The Threat of Lyme Disease From a Tick Bite
Fortunately, most tick bites (like most mosquito bites) don’t transmit disease to humans. But, as with mosquitoes, the health risk is still significant — and the consequences of being passive about prevention can be serious.
Far and away, the tick-borne disease more people contract than any other is Lyme disease. This can cause symptoms such as fever, headache, fatigue and muscle and joint pain as well as swelling and even meningitis, or inflammation of the membranes that surround the brain, if left untreated. The blacklegged tick, which can transmit it, is found primarily in the upper Midwest, northwestern United States and the Mid-Atlantic states, says Rebecca Eisen, research biologist in the division of vector-borne diseases at the CDC. “But within that broad region the tick responds largely to humidity or other measures of moisture and temperature,” she says. While there’s some variation by species and where they’re located, ticks prefer warmer weather. “So ticks are active really any time that the air temperature is above 50 degrees. But their peak of activity is … May through July or August, depending on where you are — and the ticks are usually in grassy, brushy or wooded areas,” Eisen says.
The CDC’s latest research finds that the number of reported Lyme disease cases has increased from 19,804 in 2004 to 36,429 in 2016; and that just accounts for what’s reported to the agency. Based on research, CDC estimates the actual number of people diagnosed with Lyme disease annually in the U.S. is many times that, at around 300,000.
Experts say the spread of tick ranges — like that of the blacklegged tick (also known as a deer tick) — means people are even more likely to encounter them where they live and roam. “Historically the tick was believed to be very widespread in the 1800s. And then there was a period of really rapid deforestation as we converted forestland into agricultural land. Deer were hunted to near extinction,” Eisen says. “[In the] middle of the 1900s much of that agricultural land was converted back to residential areas or suburbia, where the forests came back, the deer came back…. So what we’re seeing is as the deer and the forest come back, the tick is slowly filling suitable habitat.”
Other Diseases Transmitted by Tick Bites
Though Lyme disease is the most common disease people get from ticks, it’s certainly not the only tick-borne illness. “What you can contract from a tick depends very much on where in the country and even where in the world you are,” says Dr. Jennifer Lyons, chief of the division of neurological infections and inflammatory diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “Ticks throughout the country carry a variety of different infections, and sometimes the same tick can carry more than one infection.”
In addition to Lyme disease, blacklegged ticks are also known to transmit the bacterial disease anaplasmosis in the upper Midwest, according to the CDC. (The same disease is spread primarily by infected western blacklegged ticks in Northern California.). A bite from a blacklegged tick can also cause Babesiosis when the tick carries parasites that infect a person’s red blood cells. Though many who contract this have no symptoms, others have flu-like symptoms. Some develop a type of anemia, and it can even lead to life-threatening complications like organ failure.
Rocky Mountain spotted fever, another serious tick-borne illness that can be deadly if it isn’t treated early, is spread by several different ticks, including the American dog tick, the Rocky Mountain wood tick and, in parts of the Southwest and Mexico, the brown dog tick, according to the CDC. In addition, Erhlichiosis, which can cause fever, headache, fatigue and muscle aches, is transmitted by the Lone Star tick from New York to Texas, and in other states across the country.
In addition, the rare Powassan virus, also typically spread to humans by infected blacklegged ticks, can cause encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain, and be deadly — making swift detection and treatment critical. “It can be very rapidly fatal if it’s not appropriately managed and if it’s not appropriately recognized in time,” Lyons stresses. About 100 cases of the virus have been reported in the past 10 years, according to the CDC, primarily in Minnesota, Wisconsin and New York and Maryland, with cases also reported in Eastern states from Maine to North Carolina.
“Different types of ticks have different germs,” reiterates Thomas Mather, a professor of public health entomology at the University of Rhode Island, and director of URI’s Center for Vector-Borne Disease and its TickEncounter Resource Center. “That’s what makes identifying the tick so important, so that you have a sense of what you’re at risk for.”
Pictures of Ticks
For those who have health concerns related to being bitten by a tick, public health agencies like the CDC provide pictures online that can help with identifying a tick. But frequently ticks that are the culprits for spreading disease — biting without being removed and going unnoticed sometimes more than a day — are immature and small; and this can make identification even more challenging for a person without special expertise.
The TickEncounter Resource Center has a TickSpotter program, where people can submit photos online along with a few details, like the state they came into contact with the tick, to have it identified for free, and get more information pertinent to their potential disease risk. Mather suggests saving the tick as well if you have concerns — just putting it in a Ziploc bag is sufficient (alive or dead), he says; “and it’s always a good idea to make a note on it to say what the date is.”
For a fee, labs like UMass Amherst Laboratory of Medical Zoology test ticks to see if they carry Lyme disease or other pathogens that cause disease in people. Getting those results quickly, and knowing when a person sustained a bite, can also help in assessing an individual’s risk.
Tick Bite Symptoms
While the germs they carry and the diseases they may transmit differ, often the symptoms are similar. For example, numerous tick-borne illnesses can cause a rash to develop. This can vary from a circular rash that appears in three to 30 days starting at the bite site in the majority of people with Lyme disease, to a rash that often appears on the wrists, forearms and ankles of a person who has contracted Rocky Mountain spotted fever two to five days after the onset of a fever, and spreads to the trunk, according to the CDC. Individuals often experience fever or chills and headache, fatigue and muscle aches; those who have Lyme disease may also experience joint pain.
If you have symptoms after removing a tick, it’s important to seek medical care. Tell the provider if you have developed a rash, particularly around the tick bite site. “The next symptom to reach out about is a flu-like illness,” Eisen says. “So you’ll get a fever, you’ll feel very ill, headache and joint pains — those are all things that should bring your case to the attention of a medical professional. And if you’re feeling OK enough, you can start just by calling your primary care doctor,” she says. If not, or if you need to be seen more immediately, go to an urgent cancer center or the emergency room.
[See: 10 (Mostly) Natural Ways to Evade Mosquitoes.]
Preventing Illness From Tick Bites
First, it’s important to assess the risk. Not only might you encounter ticks on a hike, but experts say increasingly that yards are in tick-prone regions; in such places, particularly where there’s suitable habitat like woods or tall grasses, ticks can also pose a threat.
Repel ticks. If you’re going to be spending time in an area that’s likely to have ticks, experts say it’s important to take precautions to keep ticks off your skin. “Treat your clothing and gear with products that contain permethrin,” Eisen says of the widely used insecticide. “This is something that you can treat your camping gear with, your outdoor jacket, your boots — things that you’re going to wear repeatedly — and those will help to repel the ticks.” And it’s urged especially for those spending a lot of time outdoors — such as those who work in yards or other areas where they’re in tick habitat. “This is very important,” says Dr. Stalin Vilcarromero, an assistant professor of research medicine and a clinical research scientist studying tick-borne disease at Stony Brook Medicine in Stony Brook, New York.
Studies, including research done by the CDC, find that treating clothing and gear with permethrin is highly effective at repelling ticks. And while wearing long sleeves and pants, and tucking pants into socks is often recommended in tick-prone areas to keep them off bare skin, some experts counter that type of approach simply isn’t realistic when it’s hot outside.
The Environmental Protection Agency also recommends using insect repellents that contain DEET, picaridin, IR3535, Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus, para-menthane-diol or 2-undecanone and offers advice on picking a repellent. Whether using repellent, or treating clothing or buying clothing that is pre-treated with permethrin, it’s important to follow instructions (from application to washing clothes) for safety, and to apply with caution.
“If permethrin gets in the eyes it can cause redness, pain or burning,” notes the National Pesticide Information Center, a cooperative agreement between Oregon State University and the EPA. “People that have breathed in permethrin have had irritation in the nose and lungs, difficulty breathing, headaches, dizziness, nausea and vomiting.” In regards to any potential for cancer risk, which is a concern with certain chemical exposures, the center goes on to note that International Agency for Research on Cancer determined permethrin was “‘not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans’ in 1991. This means that IARC could not decide whether or not permethrin can cause cancer,” though of course it should, like other chemicals, be kept out of the hands of young children. “The U.S. EPA decided that permethrin was ‘likely to be carcinogenic to humans’ if it was eaten,” the NPIC goes on to note. “This decision was based on the structure of permethrin, what happens to it in the body, laboratory tests that caused tumors in mice and evidence of tumors in rats.”
Keep ticks out of your backyard. Tick-tracking efforts led by Mather and other researchers have found that treating backyards for ticks is also highly effective to keep ticks out. “In a lot of people’s yards, increasingly, they’re finding that they live where ticks do. And one way to reduce the likelihood of encountering ticks is to try to implement a tick control program in your own yard,” he says. “You can hire someone to come in and spray an effective tick-killing product, and it reduces the number of ticks. In my own yard, I’ve done it since I’ve lived there [beginning] in 1999, and I’ve had one tick, even though the whole area is completely tick-infested.”
Also, don’t overwater your lawn or garden, Vilcarromero says. You don’t have to starve your landscape or garden; you can keep it nice, he says, but keep in mind that ticks prefer moist conditions — so drier is better in this case. In areas where deer are prevalent, he also recommends taking steps like planting things that repel deer such as lavender or putting up a high fence to keep deer, which can carry ticks, out of yards.
Check for ticks. “Look in the crevices of your body, which is where ticks like to hide … so behind your ears, in the armpits, around the groin, ankles, behind your knee — those are places where ticks like to go to,” Lyons says. Also, make sure to check kids and pets, and remove ticks right away.
Remove ticks with precision. If you find a tick, it’s important to know how to remove it properly. “Essentially you take a pair of tweezers and grab the tick as close as you can between the skin and the mouthparts, and then pull slowly with even pressure until the tick dislodges. And then you can just treat that area with soap and water or an alcohol wipe to sterilize.”
Treat your pets, too. “If you can, if you’re bringing your pets outdoors, we recommend treating them with a spot-on [tick treatment] that repels ticks, and then checking ticks and any gear when you come indoors, just to make sure you don’t have any ticks that could come off later and bite people,” Eisen says — including those who may not have been exposed to the ticks firsthand outside. “Veterinarians can often recommend the best product for the area — but usually it’s a product that you can put on once a month to protect your dogs and cats from exposure to ticks and fleas.”
[See: Is Your Pet Imperiling Your Health?]
While experts also recommend avoiding tick-infested areas, if possible, the point is not to stay indoors given the many benefits of getting outside and into nature, but instead to take precautions. “We definitely want people to enjoy the outdoors,” Eisen says. “And just taking a couple of those fairly simple steps — particularly doing your tick checks, wearing repellents — I think that can go a long way to helping you enjoy the outdoors and staying healthy.”
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How to Protect Yourself Against the Threat of Ticks originally appeared on usnews.com
