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| I HATE ticks! |
By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI.org News staff
If you thought ticks
were bad this year, you aren't alone. A national tick expert from the
University of Rhode Island is just as freaked out.
“I’ve never seen so
many deer ticks in my life,” said Tom Mather, director of the TickEncounter
Resource Center and
professor of public health and entomology at the University of Rhode Island.
Mather said the tick population is 80 percent higher than last year, and 100
percent above the five-year average.
The most common tick,
the deer tick, transmits Lyme disease and other infections. Up to 25 percent of
nymphal, or young deer ticks, are infected with Lyme disease, and up to 60
percent of adult deer ticks carry the disease, he said.
Other tick species
living in Rhode Island carry their own diseases.
The lone
star tick has migrated
from the South and Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic and has moved as far north as
Maine. Mather first encountered the lone star tick on Prudence Island in the
late 1980s. The tick hasn’t spread rapidly to other parts of the state, as
Mather feared, but a small number inhabit North Kingstown and Tiverton.
“It hasn’t exploded on
the mainland, but there’s no reason it cannot,” Mather said.
The female lone star
tick is recognized by a white mark, or star, in the center of its back. The
male is light brown and mottled. Both are aggressive biters. Lone star ticks
don't transmit Lyme disease but they do carry other viruses such as ehrlichiosis, which is similar to Lyme disease. The symptoms include fever,
headache, coughing, back pain, nausea and changes in mental health.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Lone star ticks also HURT. Unlike deer ticks whose bite often goes unfelt, a lone star tick's bite stings like a bastard.
The second most common
tick in Rhode Island, the American dog tick, can transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
About two cases are reported annually in the state. Symptoms include nausea,
fever and body aches. About 1 percent of cases are fatal.
Human babsiosis also
is carried by the deer tick. The malaria-like disease can be fatal to people
with immune deficiencies or other health issues. The disease will show no
symptoms in many of those infected, but some 20 percent become ill. A single
deer tick can infected a host with both basbsiosis and Lyme disease.
The time of year and
location dictates where ticks are most active. Deer ticks are most threatening
to humans in late spring, when they are small and hard to detect. Dog ticks are
most common at the edge of marshes and in tall grasses. Deer ticks are found at
the edge of wooded areas, along woodland paths and in dried leaves. Most die
off during cooler weather, but some survive through winter.
Ticks inhabit most
rural and suburban parts of Rhode Island, but can be found in some city parks.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 70 percent to 80
percent of Lyme disease infections occurred in a backyard environment.
And just because you
can’t see ticks doesn’t mean they aren’t out there — especially this year.
“If people see what I
see they’d be shocked. They’d never go outdoors,” Mather said. “It’s
incredible.”