Latest news with #LouisCalderCenter
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Surge of ticks in US Northeast sets off health concerns
STORY: In the woods an hour north of New York City, students are on high alert, not for bears or coyotes, but something much smaller: ticks, some the size of a sesame seed. They're dragging cloth through the terrain to collect the critters and hey're finding more arachnids than usual. Dr. Tom Daniels is the director of Fordham University's Louis Calder Center. 'It's been a really hot year for ticks. We're seeing numbers that are generally about 30 to 40% higher than we saw last year, for example.' The bulk of the students findings are blacklegged ticks, responsible for spreading Lyme disease. Other species included the American dog tick, which is linked to Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and the invasive Asian longhorned tick. 'There's speculation, of course, that one of the reasons we're seeing more ticks, not just a number, but even a higher diversity, has to do with global warming. And that certainly is a factor. We're seeing ticks in areas that we hadn't seen them before. But the black legged tick numbers go up and down from one year to the next. And we don't always know why it is that that happens.' Scientists also point to a soaring deer population and people moving to more wooded areas. 'The wildlife is here, the ticks are here, and now we're here. And that raises our risk.' His lab also operates the Fordham Tick Index - tracking tick activity across the region. This summer it's consistently showing high risk for tick bites in the tri-state area: the region around southern New York, Connecticut and northern New Jersey. More tick bites means a greater risk for tick-borne illnesss like Lyme disease, which affects nearly half a million Americans annually, according to the CDC. Dr. Bruce Faber is an infectious disease physician. 'Only about three or 4% of ticks carry Lyme. Nevertheless, there's so many ticks and so many tick bites in certain areas. If you go hiking in the woods in the Northeast right now and you don't do anything to protect yourself, it would not be unusual to see that individual come back with five or ten ticks all over their body.' Experts are urging precautions like using tick repellents, wearing long sleeves and checking yourself and pets after activities outside.
Forbes
29-06-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Fordham Tick Risk Index is Now At Its Highest Level, 10 Out Of 10
There is an increasing need for signs such the one seen here at the entrance to a trail at ... More Mashashimuet Park in Sag Harbor, New York, warning of ticks. (Photo by James Carbone/Newsday RM via Getty Images) Tick. Tick. Tick. The U.S. is facing a ticking time bomb. The growing problem is ticks—more and more of them, spreading further and further, staying active for longer and longer throughout the year. And for the week of June 27, the Fordham University Tri-State Tick Risk Index is at the highest it can be: a 10 out of 10. What's listed next to that score is the following: "If you're thinking of taking a hike, consider going to a movie instead.' Yep, the tick situation in the tri-state area, encompassing southern New York, Connecticut, and northern New Jersey, really sucks now. The Fordham Tick Index Measures Tick Activity In The Tri-State Area When the index indicates 'Consider going to a movie instead,' it's not telling you that watching a movie like Frankenhooker is favorable over all activities. Instead, it's trying to tell you that any score in the seven to 10 range means that your chances of encountering ticks wherever wild animals and vegetation may be is 'high.' Each week researchers from the Louis Calder Center, Fordham University's Biological Field Station in Westchester County, NY, update this Fordham Tick Index. It's based on measurements of tick nymphs and full grown ticks in sample areas. Therefore, different parts of the tri-state area may have more or less tick activity. It's also a relative index, meaning what is tick activity currently compared to the rest of the year. A score of four to six is considered 'moderate,' associated with a 'ticks are fairly abundant, use caution,' piece of advice. The 'low' range is 1-3. With that you can 'enjoy the outdoors. But take precaution.' Even the lowest score of one doesn't mean that you should run around the woods naked, hugging any deer your can find. Ticks Can Carry Different Diseases The primary reason for the Fordham Tick Index is that ticks can be quite dangerous. Not all of them, though. In fact, the Fordham University website emphasizes that the 'vast majority of their 900 or so species are benign, living quiet lives of hematophagy.' Now, 'hematophagy' is probably not something you want to do on your spare time. It is the practice of feeding on blood. Ticks may look like insects. But don't call them insects. They are actually tiny eight-legged arachnids, making them related to spiders. They are also considered parasites became they live off different host animals, including humans, biting the host and sucking on the host's blood for sustenance. Tick hematophagy alone is not the threat. They aren't large enough to drain you of significant amount of blood, assuming that you are much taller than 10 mm. The problem is the disease-causing microbes that certain species of ticks may carry and transmit to you, while they bite and suck on your blood. And it could really bite and suck to get a disease like Lyme disease, Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever or Powassan virus disease. I've already detailed in Forbes the badness that Lyme Disease, Babesiosis and POW can bring. Climate Change Is Contributing To The Tick Problem Now, if you are wondering 'weather' the tick situation is getting worse, you'd probably be right. Climate change with the associated changing weather patterns is contributing to increasing tick activity. Since tick activity tends to subside in the cold and increase with increasing temperatures, warmer winters mean that many ticks can remain active for longer parts of the year. For example, the deer tick (Ixodes scapularis), the hard bodied tick that can carry the Lyme Disease-causing bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi are most active when temperatures exceed 45˚F. Rising temperatures everywhere throughout the year have expanded the geographic regions where ticks can live and flourish as well. Just look at how the deer tick has been extending its habitat by more than 20 miles per year, an estimate that Catherine Bouchard, a research scientist at the Public Health Agency of Canada provided in article by Maggie Astor for The New York Times. So places where you previously didn't have to worry much about disease-carrying ticks now are places with tick problems. How To Prevent Tick Bites The best way to prevent tick bites is to avoid going where ticks tend to be. Ticks are more likely to be in wooded, brushy, and grassy areas. So, while it may be nice to go off the beaten track when it comes to your career and life in general, this does not apply when preventing tick bites. If you must walk in areas that are close to natural vegetation and potentially wild animals, try instead to walk in the middle of well-trodden and even paved paths. Keep your yard well-manicured so that it's not favorable for ticks or animals that can carry ticks like deer. Otherwise, you may end up exclaiming, 'Oh deer.' Cover as much as your body as possible with clothing, especially your arms and lower extremities. This is not the time to go gardening in just your thong in the tri-state area. Wearing light colored clothing can make ticks easier to spot. Insect repellants can help. Just make sure that it contains components like DEET and picaridin that can actually repel ticks. You can use permethrin-based repellents on clothing and other types of gear. Finally, conduct tick checks regularly every time you are outdoors. You can do such checks to each other. Make you carefully check easy-to-miss areas such as behind the knees and the groin. Make sure that you ask before checking someone for ticks, especially if you are on a first date. The U.S. Needs A More Organized Plan On How To Deal With Ticks This certainly isn't the first time that I have written about the growing tick problem in the U.S. I've been warning about the tick problem for nearly a decade now. Yet, where's the organized plan on how to address it? Where's the strategy on how to deal with climate change? The longer the U.S. waits to deal with these problems, the more entrenched the problems will be. Then clock is ticking.
