It's not just your imagination -- ticks are out of control this year

[SheltieLover]

https://grist.org/science/its-not-just-your-imagination-ticks-are-out-of-control-this-year/

Here's why, and what climate change has to do with it.

Not long ago, I went on a walk with some friends through a field near my house in upstate New York. When we stopped for a break, something moving on my pants caught my eye. There were about a dozen reddish-brown ticks crawling up my legs. I looked closer and found ticks tangled in my socks, latched on to the insides of my shoes, hanging by hooked legs to the backs of my knees. The big ones, American dog ticks, were easy to spot, but the little ones, blacklegged nymph ticks the size of poppy seeds, were harder to find. I was still pulling them off of me days later.

Northeasterners are used to coexisting with ticks, but this season has felt unusually intense. An unofficial survey of my friends unearthed some horrifying anecdotes. A landscape designer said she had been bitten by more ticks this year than ever before. The owner of a local wine shop pulled a tick out of his hair at the Atlanta airport that had somehow managed to accompany him on the plane ride south. One guy is living with the (possibly permanent) trauma of finding a tick attached to his nipple.

The anecdotal evidence for a busy tick year is corroborated by data, Richard Ostfeld, a disease ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York, said. It’s still too early in the season to say exactly how this year stacks up compared to previous years, but early returns indicate that there has been an explosion of ticks this spring. “All these people complaining of a horrendous year,” Ostfeld said, “they’re actually right."

Much more at link. Please be safe!

[blue neen]

1. My husband is presently taking Doxycycline.

Lyme Disease. Western PA.

[SheltieLover]

3. Went through that 21 y/a with daughter.

Nightmare with cointections!

[lagomorph777]

34. Antibiotics only work if you detect it right away.

Very few victims are so lucky.

[SheltieLover]

35. True!

Abxs seemed to only suppress bugs for 90 days post-abx.

Without flagyl in system for weeks, when lyme comes out of hiding briefly & encounters abxs in blood, the lyme morphs into single-cell "cyst" form that abxes cannot detect.

[lagomorph777]

38. Yup - they hide in biofilms, along with co-infections and other crap such as metals.

You can bust all your biofilms, but that carries huge hazards. For example, the lining of your gut is a biofilm and busting it up could kill you. Even the "bad" biofilms shouldn't be busted up all at once: they'll spill their toxic goo into your system and wreak havoc.

Better to support the body's own defenses and keep it in check on a sustained basis.

[SheltieLover]

39. Overload of neurotoxins from die off can be quite harmful as well

Can easily overload liver &, likely, other organs.

Awful disease!

And coinfections make things really interesting.

[roamer65]

2. This really ticks me off.

Bad roamer65, bad!



Seriously, they are bad news. The diseases they carry are awful.

[SheltieLover]

4. Lol

Ticks me off too! Yes they are very bad news!

[roamer65]

5. I just got back from the UP of Michigan.

First thing I did that evening after being outside most of the day was a tick check.

[SheltieLover]

24. Glad you knew to check!

Lyme & coinfections are no joke.

[CentralMass]

6. Ticks dont seem to be an issue around the Portland, OR area. They were always brutal in MA

[gab13by13]

7. I have a lot of ticks most years.

I have an outside cat and I have a daily ritual of combing him and taking ticks off him. Central Pa. (Alabama) halfway between Philly and Pittsburgh.

A lot of people believe that ticks were a part of a germ warfare experiment that escaped from the Plum Island lab.

[SheltieLover]

25. Yup

Deepest darkest rabbit hole I've ever looked into.

I've read they moved Plum Isl work to Ames, IA & wa-la: endemic in Chicago region (20+ y/a).

[Binkie The Clown]

8. Mother Nature's primary job is to try to kill you.

Ticks, mosquitoes, mountain lions, bears, viruses, sharks, tornadoes, earthquakes, wolves, flesh-eating bacteria, brain-eating amoeba, etc. etc.

All with one goal in mind: to kill off the weak, and those stupid enough to to partake in dangerous activities like camping, mountain climbing, surfing, or even just going outside, for that matter.

[UpInArms]

9. Put both my dogs on

Bravecto ...

The difference of before and after is amazing ...

[634-5789]

10. I can help.

I pick up litter, in weird tall grass areas and swapy areas also. Before I leave the house, it's a spray on shoes and socks of r permethrin, and 100 DEET on my legs. I don't wear long pants, so I have had a grand total of 5 ticks on me since April 21. Besides, gives the older ladies something to look at!

[SWMO_8541]

16. Permethrin works great!

I cut firewood in the woods of MO, and the ticks are crazy thick here. I buy the mix at the feed store, and spray it on my pants, shoes, socks, and shirt. It lasts for a couple of washings.
Be very careful not to expose cats to it before it dries. It’s toxic to them!

[Buckeye_Democrat]

18. Yep, I've used it.

During a trip to the upper peninsula of Michigan, it seemed to help repel the numerous mosquitos there. They mostly avoided my clothing. They'd always find some exposed skin if I wasn't diligent about it, though.

[TomSlick]

20. Welcome to DU!

Important warning about cats.

[SheltieLover]

26. Welcome to DU!

Ty for heads up about cats!

[634-5789]

36. Sawyer's makes a helluva good product in a spray can.

https://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Products-Permethrin-Repellent-Clothing/dp/B0925QP2TJ


Walmart sells a spray in a can, if you so desire. But YEAH, I'm a big fan, been using it for years.

[Takket]

11. Vaseline

I was told recently that if a tick bites you and latches on, smear it with Vaseline. It will start to suffocate and and "wriggle out of you" so it can breath. At that point, kill the fucker.

Has anyone ever heard this before? Wondering if it really works.

[chowder66]

12. Not sure but I've heard you are supposed to pull them straight out using tweezers closest to the

head where it meets the skin. Then you are supposed to save them in a plastic bag or jar and have them tested.
I remember when we used to light a match, blow it out then touch it to their little behinds and they would back out.

[TomSlick]

21. I've always used fingernail polish - same idea but the nail polish stays in place.

[Blue Owl]

13. The MAGAts are like ticks on democracy

Especially bad this year...

[SheltieLover]

27. Think of the word politics...

Many blood suckers loaded with toxins!

[harumph]

14. We use powdered agricultural sulphur for ticks and chiggars

- put it in an old sock like a small bag tie it shut - the powder will come through the weave - knock it around your socks - lower pants leg and shoes to thoroughly powder them.
It actually works (as a repellant).

[LAS14]

15. Does anyone know where ticks come from when you're sitting...

... in a chair and they suddenly appear on the back of your hand or your chest?

tia
las

[Buckeye_Democrat]

19. They can definitely get around.

Maybe transported by animals sometimes?

I was amazed to occasionally see them on the floor of a production plant where I worked, far from outside.

[SheltieLover]

28. They are like heat seeking missiles

Saw an article about 1 type that not only drops out of trees but aggressively attacks!

[Maru Kitteh]

17. Up here (PNW) I've only seen one this year and usually I see

well - dozens, at least.

[CRK7376]

22. Our two remaining chickens

are doing tremendous service keeping our yard fairly tick free.....down in the pastures it's anonther thing....We've unfortunately lost two of our hens in the last 6 months to a fox or hawk/owl. We've caught a couple of infared pictures of the fox on a game camera down at the creek. We hear the coyotes alot but I haven't had success catching them on the game camera.....

[calguy]

23. Here in Arkansas I've only pulled two off me this year.

I'm in the woods on my property every day. They say a cold winter will kill a lot of them off. We had a hard freeze down to zero this winter and so far we're having a lighter tick year than normal. At least that's what I'm noticing.

[BGBD]

29. It would be a good idea

for states to begin large scale tick-eradication programs now.

[SheltieLover]

30. Yes it would!

[lagomorph777]

31. I've gotten 3 this year; normally go many years between bites.

But no worry; I've had Lyme for many years anyhow.

[SheltieLover]

32. You just live with it? 😱

Daughter has bn cured for 21 yrs but not because we listened to "experts!"

One learns quickly in the face of lyme to take charge of one's own healthcare and direct treatment.

[lagomorph777]

33. Yeah; I have dropped the number of spirochetes in my blood by going vegetarian,

But nothing will actually "cure" it as far as I can tell. Done many years of research on it.

When I look at my blood under the phase contrast microscope, it used to have maybe 5 spirochetes per red blood cell. Now it's maybe one per 100 cells. I do feel and think a whole lot better: migraines, afib gone; joint pain 75% better.

I agree about the experts; whether on the conventional side or alternative, they are all clueless.

[Tracer]

37. Stay out of fields that have tall grass!

That's one way to avoid ticks.

Keep to the roads, sidewalks or well-trodden paths.

There's a little gizmo that removes ticks easily. I don't know the name, but it's a flat piece of metal with a keyhole shaped hole that you wrap around the tick and pull it out. I got it in my local pharmacy.