With temperatures rising, people across the country are heading outdoors to garden, hike, swim and revel in the sunshine. But there's a hidden danger in the tall grass and brush - ticks carrying microbes that cause Lyme and other serious diseases - and their numbers are on the rise.
It is estimated that more than 500,000 new cases of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases are contracted each year in the U.S., and 95% of those cases occur in the Northeast and upper Midwest. Yetrib Hathout, professor of pharmaceutical sciences and director of the Binghamton University Tick-borne Disease Center, collects and screens ticks to see which pathogens they carry and which changes occur from season to season, year to year.
"People talk about Lyme disease, but ticks carry different pathogens, not only the Borrelia that causes Lyme," said Hathout. "When someone gets bitten by a tick, usually doctors just give them doxycycline, which may work against some bacteria, but it doesn't work against parasites such as Babesia. If you don't properly diagnose the tick-borne disease, you're doing empirical treatment. Give this antibiotic, this antibiotic, and you might miss the real target. The bottleneck right now is an accurate diagnosis."
In recent years, Hathout has noticed that pathogens that would normally be confined to a specific region of the country are starting to spread. The number of ticks carrying multiple infectious pathogens is increasing in the Northeast.
"Some of the pathogens that are only found in the South, like the Rickettsia species that causes spotted fever, are migrating up north," said Hathout. "That's why tick surveillance and tick screening for other things are important. And I think it's important to do it regularly."
What's causing this surge and spread? Mandy Roome, associate director of the Tick-borne Disease Center and former graduate student at Binghamton University, has conducted various research on ticks and the people they affect, from farmers to foresters. She attributes the rise and migration in ticks to a few factors, most notably climate change.
"Ticks can now move further north than they could before and establish populations," said Roome. "Going back maybe 15 or 20 years ago, there wasn't much of an issue. Ticks were still around, people still got tick-borne diseases, but it wasn't quite the problem that it is now. We're also having really mild winters. Deer ticks are active anytime it's over 39 degrees, so we have a lot longer active periods for ticks now, unfortunately."
Land use is another factor. The white-footed mouse is a common host for Lyme and anaplasmosis, and when mouse populations rise due to construction and other human-driven factors, it creates a hotbed for tick-borne diseases.
"As we build things, we put up roads, farms, we create these little microecologies, these fabulous habitats for really competent reservoirs (like mice), and we're driving out predators that keep these rodent populations in check," said Roome. "So we're increasing tick habitats, we're increasing rodent habitats. We're just proliferating these tick-borne diseases."
Until science catches up, prevention remains the best strategy to avoid tick bites and tick-borne diseases. Hathout and Roome recommend the following to protect yourself from bites:
- Cover up. The less your skin is exposed, the better. Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants.
- Lighten up. Ticks are harder to spot when you're wearing dark colors, so wear lighter colors.
- Use Permethrin: Spray your clothes, not your skin, with this synthetic insecticide. "I swear by it, I've collected about 8,000 ticks for my research, and I've been bitten one time," said Roome.
- Use DEET: Studies are inconclusive, but Roome said it can't hurt to use DEET - even if it just protects you from mosquitoes.
- Stay on path: When you visit a park, stay in the middle of the trail, as ticks are mostly found in bushes, branches and amidst the overgrowth.
- Check your pets: Animals, especially dogs, can act as "sentinel species." If a tick gets on your dog, it might take a ride home with you and your pooch. "If your dog's on your couch, in your bed with you, the tick can come off the dog and onto you," said Roome.
- Use a lint roller: Even if you wear light-colored clothing, it can be hard to spot a tick. Use a lint roller (the kind with sticky paper) on yourself and your pets - the ticks will stick to the roller instead of you.
- Dry your clothes: Ticks can survive the washing machine -"which is terrifying," Roome said - but they can't survive the dryer. Throw your clothes in high heat for 20 minutes.
