Invasive tick that can be deadly for cattle causing concerns among researchers
'These ticks can be so high on a single cow that they can actually result in so much blood loss that the animal can die from that,' Dr. Jonathan Cammack, Assistant Professor at OSU and State Extension Specialist for Livestock, Entomology, and Parasitology, told Nexstar's KFOR.
Dr. Cammack said the Asian Longhorned Tick, also known ALT, is native to East Asia. It was first seen in the U.S. a decade ago and has since been detected in more than a dozen states: Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Lyme-disease isn't the only tick-borne threat. Doctors warn these other diseases are spreading
It was discovered in Oklahoma last year on cattle in Craig County.
'It's not going to have that bright white spot on it like a lone star [tick]. And they're also going to be very small, about half the size of the normal tick that we're usually expecting to see at this time of year,' said Dr. Cammack.
They're also concerned with how fast the ticks can reproduce.
'They can reproduce asexually, so they don't have that added challenge of locating a mate in the environment,' said Dr. Cammack. That means a female can lay up to 2,500 eggs on one animal, which can then consume enough blood to be deadly.
Now, they're hoping research can help with ideas to slow or stop the spread.
'There's a project going on at the vet school where they're collecting ticks that are suspected to be Asian Longhorned Ticks, and then they're testing them for the presence of this pathogen,' said Dr. Cammack. The pathogen is the Theileria orientalis Ikeda genotype, which can be detrimental to cattle.
This year, the team is looking for new cases of the tick, and they hope Oklahoma ranchers will help them with surveillance. Dr. Cammack recommends that animals are checked regularly — maybe not daily, but more than once a year — for the tick.
If you see it on your cattle, it's recommended that you call your local veterinarian. If you live in an area where the tick has become established, there may be other steps you're advised to take.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Axios
3 days ago
- Axios
Why Lyme disease cases are rising in Ohio
Justin Timberlake's recent diagnosis is putting a spotlight on Lyme disease, a tick-borne illness with staggering growth in Ohio over the past 15 years. Why it matters: Awareness of early symptoms, such as a rash and fatigue, can help patients catch cases early and treat them with antibiotics. If left untreated, the bacterial infection can lead to long-term neurological problems and symptoms like heart palpitations, arthritis, facial palsy and body aches. By the numbers: There were nearly 1,800 cases reported in Ohio last year, and around 1,200 so far this year. That's up from 40 in 2010. A post-2022 spike is largely due to a change in U.S. reporting requirements — but cases here were climbing before the change, with 615 in 2021, Ohio Department of Health data shows. The disease remains hard to diagnose and likely significantly underreported. Between the lines: Climate change is helping ticks survive longer, find new hosts and spread into new habitats. Ohio's cases started climbing around the time the blacklegged tick that transmits Lyme disease started appearing here, state and OSU researchers found. One silver lining: Only 3% of Ohio's cases in recent years have been recorded in Franklin County, making the local risk lower than in other areas. To help curb severe cases, the OSU Extension opened a tick-testing laboratory this year that detects diseases for $50, with results in 72 hours. Stay safe: Perform a "tick check" and shower after being outdoors, especially in the wooded or brushy areas, per the lab.
New York Post
02-08-2025
- New York Post
Why many women over age 52 have a higher risk of getting STIs
STIs are on the rise — but it's not just frat bros and free-lovers feeling the burn. While younger people still account for the majority of cases, studies show that some of the steepest spikes are happening in people 55 and up. Experts have offered several explanations for the surge, but research suggests there's a risk factor affecting many midlife and older women that has largely flown under the radar and could be playing a key role. Advertisement 4 More Americans are having sex in their senior years thanks to advancements in medicine. Monkey Business – More than a million American women hit menopause each year — and it's not just hot flashes and mood swings they're facing. The transition, which wraps up around age 52 on average, marks the end of reproductive years and is driven by a drop in estrogen as the ovaries slow hormone production. While vaginal dryness and loss of elasticity are well-known symptoms, research from Ohio State University (OSU) shows that menopause can also weaken the vaginal tissue itself, making it more prone to tearing. Advertisement That vulnerability comes down to changes at the cellular level. The vagina's surface is made up of multiple layers held together by key proteins like desmoglein-1 (DSG1) and desmocollin-1 (DSC1). 'These proteins strengthen the vaginal lining and restrict pathogen access to deeper tissue, reducing the risk of infection,' Dr. Thomas L. Cherpes, associate professor of otolaryngology at OSU, wrote in The Conversation. Advertisement 4 Menopause can bring a host of uncomfortable symptoms, including vaginal changes. – In their research, Cherpes and his colleagues found that postmenopausal women have significantly lower levels of DSG1 and DSC1 than women who haven't gone through the transition. To see how this might impact infection risk, the researchers removed the ovaries of mice in a lab to mimic estrogen loss in postmenopausal women. Compared to mice with intact ovaries, those without had far lower levels of DSG1 and DSC1 in their vaginal tissue. Advertisement The team also found that these mice were more vulnerable to infection with herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), which causes genital herpes. They were less able to clear chlamydia infections from the lower genital tract as well. The findings help explain why postmenopausal women are more susceptible to STIs than their younger counterparts. Notably, when Cherpes and his colleagues applied estrogen cream to the mice without ovaries, it restored the vaginal lining's integrity and fully protected them from HSV-2 infection. 4 The vaginal tissue is more vulnerable to tearing after menopause, opening the door to infection. megaflopp – 'While additional research is needed, findings from our lab suggest that estrogen-containing compounds used to relieve vaginal irritation and other symptoms of genitourinary syndrome of menopause can also reduce susceptibility to STIs among older adults,' Cherpes wrote. Sex doesn't stop — and neither do the risks Americans might not like to talk about it, but older adults are still very much having sex. A 2018 survey found nearly 40% of people aged 65 to 80 are sexually active, and almost two-thirds remain interested in sex. Advertisement More recent AARP data shows that 26% of 60- to 69-year-olds and 17% of those 70 and older have sex weekly. 'Hormone-replacement therapy, vaginal lubricants and the approval of sildenafil (Viagra) and its relatives have extended people's sex lives,' Dr. Sandra Adamson Fryhofer told the American Medical Association. But while more people are living longer and staying sexually active, more are also paying the price. 4 Sex-crazed seniors are fueling a major spike in STIs nationwide. David – Advertisement 'Rates are highest in the under 25 age group, which accounts for about 50% of STIs, but we're definitely seeing a rise in infections in the older population, particularly in people over 65,' Dr. Angelina Gangestad said in an interview with University Hospitals. Between 2010 and 2023, the number of Americans over 65 diagnosed with chlamydia, gonorrhea or syphilis rose by roughly three-, five- and sevenfold, respectively, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Research also suggests women over 50 are at greater risk for HIV than their younger peers. Advertisement In addition to the effects of menopause, experts say several other factors are likely fueling the rise. Condom use is significantly lower among older adults compared to younger people. One study found that just 3% of Americans aged 60 and older have used a condom in the past year. Older adults also tend to have less knowledge about STIs, including how they spread, what symptoms look like and how to prevent them. Advertisement To make matters worse, research suggests that many doctors don't ask older patients about their sex lives — and seniors aren't exactly jumping to bring it up with their family or friends, either. 'No one wants to think about grandma doing this,' Matthew Lee Smith, an associate professor at the Texas A&M School of Public Health, told NBC News. 'You certainly aren't going to ask grandma if she was wearing condoms — and that's part of the problem, because every individual regardless of age has the right to intimacy.'
Vox
01-07-2025
- Vox
Confusing abortion bans hurt patients. But there's a cost to making them clearer.
is a policy correspondent for Vox covering social policy. She focuses on housing, schools, homelessness, child care, and abortion rights, and has been reporting on these issues for more than a decade. By the time Republican Rep. Kat Cammack arrived at a Florida emergency room, she was facing an urgent medical crisis: Her pregnancy, then five weeks along, had become ectopic and now threatened her life. It was May 2024, and though Florida's new and particularly restrictive six-week abortion ban did allow abortion in cases like hers, Cammack said she spent hours convincing hospital staff to administer the standard treatment for ending nonviable pregnancies. Doctors expressed fears about losing their licenses, prompting Cammack to pull up the legislation on her phone to show them that her case fell within legal parameters. Now pregnant again, Cammack recently described her experience to the Wall Street Journal, accusing the political left of 'fearmongering' and creating confusion among health care providers that ultimately puts patients at risk. Her view — that confusion stems from abortion rights advocates, not the laws themselves — has become a rallying point for anti-abortion leaders. Christina Francis, the head of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, blames mainstream medical groups like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) for misleading doctors about when they can provide abortions in states with bans. 'They've…stated that doctors couldn't intervene in those [life-threatening] situations or they would face prosecution, and in fact, they're still peddling that lie,' she told Vox. 'They [just] put out posts on the anniversary of Dobbs saying the same thing, and they have a 'Blame the Bans' campaign where they're actively lying to practicing physicians and telling them that they have to wait until their patient is actively dying.' But doctors argue they're scared for good reason. The laws create genuine legal risk in complex medical situations, particularly when state officials contradict the courts' interpretations of medical exceptions. That uncertainty played out dramatically in late 2023 in the case of Kate Cox, a Texas woman whose pregnancy developed fatal fetal abnormalities; a judge ruled the law's exception permitted her abortion, but the state's attorney general threatened to prosecute any doctor who performed the procedure. (Cox ultimately crossed state lines to end her pregnancy.) Other high-profile cases of doctors hesitating to provide emergency care have surfaced in the media, adding significant pressure on anti-abortion lawmakers who insist there's no legislative ambiguity to be found. Related District attorneys could be a last defense against abortion bans Partly in response, red state lawmakers have been moving to address — or at least signal they're addressing — gray areas in their laws, passing 'clarifications' to give doctors more concrete guidance on when they can provide emergency abortions and how criminal penalties would kick in. The Guttmacher Institute found that this is one of the top legislative trends for reproductive health care this year, with 42 bills introduced across 12 states. Three of those bills — in Texas, Kentucky, and Tennessee — were signed into law, and Texas's took effect earlier this month. Most Americans — across parties, genders, and regions — favor allowing abortion when the pregnancy endangers the mother's life or results from rape or incest, and strong majorities also back exceptions for severe fetal anomalies or serious health problems. All state abortion bans currently include exceptions to 'prevent the death' or 'preserve the life' of the pregnant patient, and many also include some sort of health exception, typically to prevent 'permanent' damage to a 'major' bodily function. The new clarification bills could help prevent the death of some patients but do little to expand access to some of the abortion exceptions voters support. Clarifying laws that were supposedly clear The new bills proposing amendments to abortion bans are fueling debates over whether incremental improvements are worth the risk of creating false confidence that major legal obstacles have been resolved. This year's fight in Kentucky clearly captured that disagreement. The state's local ACOG chapter helped craft the legislative language and supported the proposed clarification bill, calling it an 'acceptable short-term solution.' However, the national ACOG organization, along with Planned Parenthood and some OB-GYNs with Kentucky Physicians for Reproductive Freedom, successfully urged Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, to veto it. 'Although supporters of House Bill 90 claim it protects pregnant women and clarifies abortion law in Kentucky, it actually does the opposite,' Beshear declared. (The legislature overrode the governor's veto two days later.) As confusion mounts, supporters of abortion restrictions have doubled down on the argument that this is really not a big deal. Francis, the head of the anti-abortion OB-GYN group, argues that the bans are clear and don't need to be rewritten — doctors simply need better education. 'So many of these state laws have been in place for either three years or close to three years, and there's not been a single doctor prosecuted for intervening when a woman's life would be in danger,' she said. But Francis also acknowledged that physicians were left without reliable guidance from hospitals, state agencies, and professional associations, institutions with attorneys who are themselves uncertain. A Washington Post investigation from late 2023 found that hospital lawyers and compliance teams often hesitated to advise doctors definitively, leaving physicians unsure when and how they could legally act. Some anti-abortion leaders have gone so far as to allege that physicians are deliberately withholding abortion care to make a political point. Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti of Tennessee argued it wasn't his state's ban that was harming women, but 'other factors like doctors' independent choices not to provide permissible abortions.' Still, even as conservatives double down on their accusations of fearmongering, Republican-led states have been quietly adjusting their laws to ease doctors' fears of being prosecuted for providing emergency care. Utah lawmakers rewrote their emergency exception so doctors do not need to wait for an 'immediate' threat to a patient to provide an abortion. Some states, like Idaho, have moved to scrap their 'affirmative defense' provisions — meaning doctors would no longer have to be charged with a crime first and then prove in court that the abortion was medically necessary. Tennessee moved this year to provide specific examples of what constitutes a permissible exception, including PPROM (the rupture of fetal membranes before 24 weeks of gestation), severe preeclampsia (a high blood pressure disorder), and other infections risking uterine rupture. Texas's changes to its abortion law took effect on June 20. Its legislation, like Utah's, clarifies that doctors can perform abortions when a pregnant patient faces a life-threatening condition caused or worsened by pregnancy without waiting for that risk to become 'imminent.' The law also standardizes the definition of 'medical emergency' across various state statutes, and it requires training for doctors and lawyers to learn more about these exceptions. 'We all thought it is important that the law be crystal clear,' state Sen. Bryan Hughes, who introduced Texas's clarification bill this year, said in the legislature. Last fall he defended his state's abortion ban, which he also authored, as 'plenty clear' and blamed news organizations for muddying the waters. The new Texas bill was backed by the Texas Medical Association, the Texas Hospital Association, and leading anti-abortion groups like the Texas Right to Life. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, one of the largest national anti-abortion lobbying groups, praised the passage of Texas's law, stating it will 'end the confusion caused by the abortion lobby through direct education to doctors.' Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America also championed a South Dakota law passed last year that required the state to produce a video on how doctors can legally perform abortions to save the life of a pregnant woman. In the state's subsequent six-minute video, the South Dakota Department of Health secretary says a patient does not need to be 'critically ill or actively dying' for a doctor to end a pregnancy. (Abortion rights supporters have blasted the video, which they say provides no real guidelines or legal clarity to practicing physicians.) Some legal advocates for abortion rights warn the reforms will fail to resolve the underlying confusion. The bills are 'not to clarify anything. This is just so politicians can say they fixed it,' Molly Duane, a senior attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told Vox. 'The reason I know this is because the anti-abortion lobby has been pretty open about the fact that they were the ones drafting the bills. For a lawyer like me that spends all day, every day, looking at these, it's quite obvious that there's no additional language here that addresses the questions the doctors actually have.' ACOG also opposed Texas's bill, and the group's general counsel Molly Meegan wrote last month that 'the solution to a bad law is not to further legislate that law. It is to get rid of the law.' The tough choices abortion rights supporters face One of the hard realities abortion rights advocates face is that in order to secure more legal protection for physicians working under vague abortion bans, they often must accept language crafted by anti-abortion lobbyists that could make things worse in the future. That controversial language can limit what types of procedures get classified as abortion or can introduce ideological terms like 'maternal-fetal separation,' which are not standard in mainstream medical practice and can help justify or require medical alternatives to abortion, like cesarean deliveries and inductions of labor, that carry greater risk for patients. While such semantic distinctions may offer doctors some short-term legal protection, activists warn they risk reinforcing a false moral hierarchy between 'good' and 'bad' abortions and stigmatize some forms of care rather than helping the public understand that all these procedures fall under the same broader category of abortion. Some of the bills also codify new 'fetal personhood' language, which is part of an effort to extend constitutional protections to embryos. Abortion advocates warn this sort of language could help anti-abortion lawmakers strip patients and doctors of additional rights down the line. Beshear echoed these concerns in his veto announcement, blasting the clarification bill for using 'new definitions that have been advanced by advocates who oppose in vitro fertilization and birth control.' He warned that using such language sets 'a stage for future legislation and litigation' that put health care options at risk. Many physicians say they do not feel reassured by these clarifications. If anything, they feel more confused and nervous. The push for clearer laws reveals a fundamental tension: Abortion rights advocates say exceptions like 'ectopic pregnancy' with no further detail are too vague, yet also argue that the practices of medicine are too complex to codify in law. Republican lawmakers point to legislative language granting deference to physicians' 'reasonable medical judgment,' but advocates say that standard is still too open-ended. More precise language might help in typical cases but risks excluding the edge cases where doctors need protection most. Given these trade-offs, abortion rights supporters are left grappling with a basic strategic question: whether imperfect progress is worth the potential costs. 'I think that's the age-old question,' said Kimya Forouzan, a state policy researcher at the Guttmacher Institute, which has been tracking legislative trends. 'If one person could get help getting an abortion that's great but at the same time these [clarification] bills are not causing the problem that abortion bans create to go away.' Sarah Osmundson, a maternal-fetal medicine physician in Tennessee, captured the challenge of working with patients facing high-risk pregnancies in a state with a strict abortion ban. Writing in the New York Times in 2023, she explained why she supported modest changes to her state's abortion ban, even as she understood the arguments of fellow abortion rights supporters that such imperfect amendments come with risks. 'I worry that reproductive rights advocates may be digging into untenable positions and failing to listen to those affected most by the current reality,' she wrote. 'Do we support incremental changes that provide minimum safety for pregnant women and physicians?' Ultimately, lawmakers drafting clarification bills have been careful to not expand access to care in any significant way. Many still exclude abortions for rape and incest — despite polling showing that majorities of Americans want those carve-outs — and almost no state allows abortion for mental health reasons, despite mental health conditions accounting for over 20 percent of pregnancy-related deaths in the US. Many European countries permit mental health as an acceptable health exception to abortion bans. Looking ahead, Americans should expect to see more incremental legislative tweaks coupled with state-mandated training, as anti-abortion leaders hail the passage of such medical education, or 'med ed,' laws. Whether this strategy proves durable may depend on how much evidence accumulates that the core problems — criminal penalties, prosecutorial discretion, hospital risk management — run deeper than confusion about legal language. The med ed campaigns represent an acknowledgment that something needed fixing. The remaining question is this: What happens when the fixes don't fix it?
