Latest news with #ticks
CBS News
7 hours ago
- Climate
- CBS News
With weather warming, another warning about ticks all around Illinois
It was a beautiful day in Chicago Monday with plenty of opportunities to get fresh air, but everyone was advised to make sure to prepare for ticks ahead of their relaxing walks. Every few weeks, the Cook County Forest Preserve District posts a reminder about ticks on social media. This year, the minuscule arachnids may be more prevalent than ever — all across Illinois. Scientists told CBS News Chicago the relatively mild winter this year did not kill as many ticks as usual. Warming temperatures due to climate change also help the arachnid survive. Tracking just how many ticks are out there is not easy, but the public can help assess the threat with something called The Tick App. Users can report a tick sighting, and an expert from the University of Illinois can identify the tick. There is also the Ticks of Illinois Project, where users upload pictures, locations, dates, and times of tick encounters. What's all the fuss about ticks? Most people have probably heard about Lyme disease, but there are other risks besides that. "We have four vector ticks, so four ticks that can spread disease across the State of Illinois — and all four of those can carry multiple diseases, and sometimes at the same time," said Dr. Becky Smith//University of Illinois Pathobiology Department. "So we are really concerned about human health — because some of these, some of the viruses, we can't even treat." One of ticks' favorite spots to hang is on deer, which are abundant in the Chicago area. But when a deer was spotted among the walkers and bicyclists in south suburban Matteson on Monday, no one seemed particularly nervous about ticks. However, most of the walkers and bicyclists in question planned to stay on the pavement, and were not planning to go off-roading in the tall grass where the ticks might be hiding. The Will County Health Department explained to CBS News Chicago how it handles ticks. Its environmental health division conducts six drags a year to collect ticks through a grant program from the Illinois Department of Public Health. Any ticks collected are sent to the state's public health department to be identified. The Will County Health Department noted that Illinois typically sees black-legged or deer ticks, lone star ticks, Gulf Coast ticks, and American dog ticks. Once identified, the ticks are tested for any pathogens. The Will County Health Department said in 2024, its Environmental Health Division conducted six tick drags and collected 47 ticks for testing. The Illinois Department of Public Health also has a surveillance map that tracks the type of ticks found in the state and any pathogens associated with them.
The Independent
11 hours ago
- Health
- The Independent
Tick bites are nearly double already this year. Will this summer be the worst yet?
Peak tick season is approaching across the U.S and researchers are expecting this summer to be particularly brutal. But, is it the worst ever? University of Rhode Island entomologist Dr. Thomas 'The TickGuy' Mathers told The Independent that it's too early to call it but the numbers are looking worrying — he's received more submissions of nymphal blacklegged ticks, which carry Lyme disease, to the university's TickSpotters platform so far this month than the weekly average for the same period over the last decade. 'I don't know the answer just yet, if it's a trend going up – but I suspect it is, just based on the number of nymphal blacklegged ticks I've seen in the past couple of weeks,' he explained. Mathers noted that federal data shows emergency room visits related to ticks are up this year, with visits nearly doubling from 70 in April, to 131 in May. Other researchers who also count ticks are noticing a significant jump in specimens. Dr. Saravanan Thangamani, a professor at New York's SUNY Upstate Medical University who runs the Upstate Tick Testing Laboratory, has warned that more ticks are being sent to the lab than at the same time last year, marking a 217 percent increase. 'Based on the trend in tick submission I have observed thus far, I expect a tick season that is worse than the previous years,' he cautioned. But, Rutgers University professor and entomologist Dina Fonseca is not ready to make that call quite yet. She's a part of the submission project called New Jersey Ticks 4 Science! She said people say it's the worst year for ticks every year, noting there's no standardized tick surveillance. They're seeing more submissions, as well, but they don't know if it's just because more people are reporting them. 'Frankly, we don't have enough data over time to be able to say, 'Is it a worse year than normal or a better year than normal?' We don't know,' explained Fonseca. What threats do US ticks pose? Whatever the case may be, the heightened activity between June and July leaves Americans exposed to 90 species of ticks and the diseases they can carry. Although ticks are on both coasts, they're largely found in the eastern U.S. Some, like brown dog ticks and blacklegged ticks, are located more widely. Not being prepared for ticks while doing outside activities and camping could carry a death sentence — although that's an extremely rare outcome. People bitten by ticks may be exposed to Powassan virus, Babesiosis, Anaplasmosis, Tularemia, Lyme disease, and other pathogens that can cause human disease. People can be affected by multiple diseases at once. The nymphal blacklegged ticks are the ones Fonseca says people really need to worry about, as they can be infected with four different disease agents. That includes Lyme disease, which may lead to facial paralysis and irregular heartbeat if untreated. Although larger than larval ticks, nymphal ticks are only the size of a poppy seed. They may be hard to spot – even for people who are aware of their region's ticks and where they live. 'Look at the bowtie of Lincoln on a penny; that's the size of a nymphal blacklegged tick, Fonseca said. Exposure and prevention While it's easy to miss ticks, it can take about two days for any transmission to occur after a bite. People who find ticks on their skin should remove them with tweezers as soon as possible. Those who develop a rash or fever after removal should consult a doctor. As far as prevention goes, knowledge is power. Reducing exposure is the best way to avoid negative health outcomes. Mather advises that people follow what he calls the 'three Ts.' Wear tight clothing, tuck in shirts and pants legs, and wear clothes treated with 0.5 percent permethrin repellent. 'If you don't apply repellent, they can be ruthless,' Fonseca said, recalling a time when she picked 30-to-40 ticks out of her hair. Mathers remembers a trip to Fire Island that resulted in the exposure to 'literally hundreds' of fast-crawling ticks. Unfortunately, with a changing climate comes additional chances to pick up the blood-sucking hitchhikers. With a warmer atmosphere comes a wetter world, and parasites thrive in those conditions, and ticks have been observed moving north. Southern aridity is their enemy. 'One of the easiest ways to kill a tick is to dry the heck out of them,' said Fonseca.
CTV News
a day ago
- General
- CTV News
Tick-borne disease is spreading into new parts of Canada. Here's where you're at risk
Here's everything you need to know about ticks, including ways to protect both you and your pets. Here's everything you need to know about ticks, including ways to protect both you and your pets. Should you be worried about ticks this spring? As the weather gets warmer, public health experts are warning about the risk of tick-borne illnesses like lyme disease -- a problem that's spreading to new parts of the country. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has identified thousands of postal codes across more than 1,100 municipalities it considers 'risk areas' for exposure to lyme. As of the current list, high-risk areas are concentrated in communities along the U.S. border, as well as in major population centres. In Western Canada, risk areas are concentrated on Vancouver Island, the coastal areas of B.C.'s Lower Mainland and river valleys across that province's south, as well as nearly all of Manitoba from the north shore of Lake Winnipeg to the U.S. border. Further east, much of southern Ontario's Great Lakes coasts, including the entirety of the Greater Toronto Area, are within areas considered high risk by the agency. A corridor of risk areas also exists along the St. Lawrence River from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic coast, including Kingston, Ont., Ottawa and Montreal. And in Atlantic Canada, nearly all of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, including Cape Breton Island, are known to be habitats for blacklegged ticks. Blacklegged tick This undated photo provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows a blacklegged tick, which is also known as a deer tick. (CDC via AP, File) Virginie Millien is an associate professor of biology at McGill University who studies the effects of climate change on wildlife such as ticks and their hosts. 'Risk areas are growing,' Millien told by phone. 'It's not going to stop anytime soon because it's really driven by climate warming.' Millien has been tracking the emergence of Lyme disease in Quebec for over a decade 'The risk is present for people, not just whenever they go far in the woods in remote areas,' Millien cautioned. 'It's also present in some major cities now because there's large urban parks in these cities.' iFrames are not supported on this page. Informed by data from provincial and territorial authorities, risk areas are identified by the emergence of new tick populations, as well as human populations 'most at risk of lyme disease.' But PHAC is quick to note that even if you are not located in a high-risk postal code, it's important to remain vigilant. '[Ticks] can also spread by travelling on birds and deer. You can sometimes find blacklegged ticks in areas outside of where they're known to live,' the agency's lyme-disease monitoring page reads. 'Always take precautions against tick bites when you're in wooded or grassy areas.' Ticking upward PHAC notes that as climate change has increased temperatures across the country, the viable range for lyme-infected ticks has grown, increasing risks of exposure. 'Incidence continues to remain high due to factors such as greater human exposure to risk areas and to risk of infection,' reads a 2022 report on lyme-disease monitoring. Millien says ticks can be spread by other animals like mice, which are also expanding their range due to climate change. 'The tick needs to be able to survive the winter to become established in a region,' Millien explained. 'Winter conditions are going to determine whether the tick is going survive or not, and of course it's getting warmer, so they can survive each year in more northern localities.' 'It's going to get bigger and bigger' Lyme disease is a life-altering infection caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, which can spread to humans via tick bites. There are more than 40 varieties of ticks in Canada, and many are known to carry lyme. The species that are of the biggest concern are the blacklegged tick in Eastern Canada and the western blacklegged tick in B.C. While early signs of the disease can be fairly mild, including fever, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes and a bullseye-shaped rash near the location of the bite, later stages can cause severe headaches, arthritis, spreading pain throughout the muscles, bones and joints, difficulties with thinking and memory and facial paralysis, among other symptoms. First tracked nationally in 2009, reported cases of lyme disease have risen greatly in the past quarter-century, to more than 5,000 in last year's preliminary data from just a few hundred per year in the early 2010s. 'In Canada, there were only a handful of cases only a decade ago,' Millien said. 'It's not a linear relationship, it's exponential when a disease emerges. So it's going to get bigger and bigger, and in an exponential way. That's the expectation.' PHAC notes that cases are often underreported because they go undetected, possibly even to those infected with the disease. Case counts can vary annually due to underlying weather, trends in outdoor activity among humans and prevention efforts by public health authorities, they say. Anyone who develops symptoms after a tick bite, or does after visiting a high-risk area for tick-borne lyme, is advised to contact their heath-care provider. Treatment with antibiotics is most effective soon after exposure, posing the best chance of recovery, though symptoms may persist after treatment is complete, PHAC says. How to remove a tick George Chaconas is a professor at the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine who studies the bacteria that causes lyme disease. 'If you're in an area known to have ticks, protect yourself,' he told by phone. 'Wear light-coloured clothing, so if you pick up a tick, you can see it. Tuck your pants into your socks. You may look a little bit funny, but if you do that, if a tick gets on your foot and crawls upwards, which is what they do, it's not going to get under your pants and crawl up to your groin or somewhere else.' Tick Twister Removing a tick with ether and a tick removal device. (Photo By BSIP / Universal Images Group via Getty Images) Insect repellants can also help. If bitten, Chaconas says it's important to quickly but carefully remove a tick by the head without squeezing its body. You can then upload a picture of a tick to to have it identified. 'If it's been less than 24 hours, then chances of picking up Lyme disease are very low because Lyme is usually not transmitted until 24 to 48 hours after the tick bite,' he added. 'If it's been on for longer than that, you can also usually tell by what the tick looks like. If it's big and fat and full of blood, then it's been there for a while.' Related:
CTV News
2 days ago
- Climate
- CTV News
Tick-borne disease is spreading into new parts of Canada. Here's where you're at risk
Here's everything you need to know about ticks, including ways to protect both you and your pets. As the weather gets warmer, public health experts are warning about the risk of tick-borne illnesses like lyme disease -- a problem that's spreading to new parts of the country. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has identified thousands of postal codes across more than 1,100 municipalities it considers 'risk areas' for exposure to lyme. As of the current list, high-risk areas are concentrated in communities along the U.S. border, as well as in major population centres. In Western Canada, risk areas are concentrated on Vancouver Island, the coastal areas of B.C.'s Lower Mainland and river valleys across that province's south, as well as nearly all of Manitoba from the north shore of Lake Winnipeg to the U.S. border. Further east, much of southern Ontario's Great Lakes coasts, including the entirety of the Greater Toronto Area, are within areas considered high risk by the agency. A corridor of risk areas also exists along the St. Lawrence River from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic coast, including Kingston, Ont., Ottawa and Montreal. And in Atlantic Canada, nearly all of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, including Cape Breton Island, are known to be habitats for blacklegged ticks. Blacklegged tick This undated photo provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows a blacklegged tick, which is also known as a deer tick. (CDC via AP, File) Virginie Millien is an associate professor of biology at McGill University who studies the effects of climate change on wildlife such as ticks and their hosts. 'Risk areas are growing,' Millien told by phone. 'It's not going to stop anytime soon because it's really driven by climate warming.' Millien has been tracking the emergence of Lyme disease in Quebec for over a decade 'The risk is present for people, not just whenever they go far in the woods in remote areas,' Millien cautioned. 'It's also present in some major cities now because there's large urban parks in these cities.' iFrames are not supported on this page. Informed by data from provincial and territorial authorities, risk areas are identified by the emergence of new tick populations, as well as human populations 'most at risk of lyme disease.' But PHAC is quick to note that even if you are not located in a high-risk postal code, it's important to remain vigilant. '[Ticks] can also spread by travelling on birds and deer. You can sometimes find blacklegged ticks in areas outside of where they're known to live,' the agency's lyme-disease monitoring page reads. 'Always take precautions against tick bites when you're in wooded or grassy areas.' Ticking upward PHAC notes that as climate change has increased temperatures across the country, the viable range for lyme-infected ticks has grown, increasing risks of exposure. 'Incidence continues to remain high due to factors such as greater human exposure to risk areas and to risk of infection,' reads a 2022 report on lyme-disease monitoring. Millien says ticks can be spread by other like mice, which are also expanding their range due to climate change. [ missing a word after 'by other' …. Methods, maybe?' ] 'The tick needs to be able to survive the winter to become established in a region,' Millien explained. 'Winter conditions are going to determine whether the tick is going survive or not, and of course it's getting warmer, so they can survive each year in more northern localities.' 'It's going to get bigger and bigger' Lyme disease is a life-altering infection caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, which can spread to humans via tick bites. There are more than 40 varieties of ticks in Canada, and many are known to carry lyme. The species that are of the biggest concern are the blacklegged tick in Eastern Canada and the western blacklegged tick in B.C. While early signs of the disease can be fairly mild, including fever, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes and a bullseye-shaped rash near the location of the bite, later stages can cause severe headaches, arthritis, spreading pain throughout the muscles, bones and joints, difficulties with thinking and memory and facial paralysis, among other symptoms. First tracked nationally in 2009, reported cases of lyme disease have risen greatly in the past quarter-century, to more than 5,000 in last year's preliminary data from just a few hundred per year in the early 2010s. 'In Canada, there were only a handful of cases only a decade ago,' Millien said. 'It's not a linear relationship, it's exponential when a disease emerges. So it's going to get bigger and bigger, and in an exponential way. That's the expectation.' PHAC notes that cases are often underreported because they go undetected, possibly even to those infected with the disease. Case counts can vary annually due to underlying weather, trends in outdoor activity among humans and prevention efforts by public health authorities, they say. Anyone who develops symptoms after a tick bite, or does after visiting a high-risk area for tick-borne lyme, is advised to contact their heath-care provider. Treatment with antibiotics is most effective soon after exposure, posing the best chance of recovery, though symptoms may persist after treatment is complete, PHAC says. (edited) How to remove a tick George Chaconas is a professor at the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine who studies the bacteria that causes lyme disease. 'If you're in an area known to have ticks, protect yourself,' he told by phone. 'Wear light-coloured clothing, so if you pick up a tick, you can see it. Tuck your pants into your socks. You may look a little bit funny, but if you do that, if a tick gets on your foot and crawls upwards, which is what they do, it's not going to get under your pants and crawl up to your groin or somewhere else.' Tick Twister Removing a tick with ether and a tick removal device. (Photo By BSIP / Universal Images Group via Getty Images) Insect repellants can also help. If bitten, Chaconas says it's important to quickly but carefully remove a tick by the head without squeezing its body. You can then upload a picture of a tick to to have it identified. 'If it's been less than 24 hours, then chances of picking up Lyme disease are very low because Lyme is usually not transmitted until 24 to 48 hours after the tick bite,' he added. 'If it's been on for longer than that, you can also usually tell by what the tick looks like. If it's big and fat and full of blood, then it's been there for a while.' Related:
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Up-tick? Long Island seeing more of the blood-suckers this year
Long Islanders better brace for a bloodthirsty summer. Populations of several tick species across both Nassau and Suffolk counties have exploded since the fall, experts told The Post. 'I have friends working in the state and county parks, and the talk is, 'Oh, my God, it's so bad this year!'' said Janine Bendicksen, director of wildlife rehabilitation at Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown. Bendicksen said Sweetbriar has taken in more goslings this spring than in previous years, with groups of 10 to 20 coming in at a clip. 'They were lethargic. Their feet were curling up, and they'd flip over, because they were dying,' she explained. 'All of a sudden, we saw all of these tiny black ticks coming off of them.' Sweetbriar's team realized the baby birds were anemic from the bloodsuckers. 'Goslings and ducklings never have ticks on them, because ticks tend to go for mammals,' Bendicksen said. 'That is an indication that, 'Uh-oh, it's gonna be a bad season.'' The Lone Star, American Dog, and blacklegged tick — which can transmit a bevy of illnesses such as Lyme disease, a bacterial infection that causes flu-like symptoms — have all been on the rise across Long Island, experts said. They can also spread potentially-fatal bacterial infections such as ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis, along with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Powassan virus. Several factors account for the population explosion, including weather and host animal abundance. Long Island had a rather mild winter, which can increase tick activity, said Dr. Scott Campbell, Suffolk County's entomologist. A wet spring also tend to bring out more ticks. 'There's a lot of moving parts,' said Campbell. 'There's no silver bullet, but multiple factors are playing a role.' Rodent populations are also on the rise — potentially caused by a dip in the number of predators that feed on them including owls and snakes — helping boost tick numbers. In Suffolk, there were 3,299 reported cases of Lyme disease in 2023 — up from 2,668 the year before. Only 697 cases were reported in Nassau County in 2023, while data from the prior year was not immediately available. Over 21,000 Lyme disease cases were reported statewide in 2023. And more than 89,000 U.S. cases were reported across the US in 2023, the CDC reported. Ulises Galdamez, 36, owner of Long Island Tick Sprays in Hampton Bays, told The Post this is the first season since launching his business in 2016 that his phone started ringing in early March. 'Normally, April is when we get people reaching out to us,' he explained. 'This year's going to be bad, because we've definitely had more people calling us this year than any other year before. We've been going nonstop — it's shaping up to be our busiest season so far.' Bendicksen suggested wearing 'socks on the outside of your pants' to keep the critters off exposed skin. Keeping rodents and larger mammals away with fences and other measures is also important she said. And keep a lint roller handy — they're excellent for removing ticks, she added.
