What you need to know about ticks

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Maybe you’ve found your feet crawling after walking through tall grass, or you’ve felt it on your dog’s back when you run your hand through his fur. If you’re unlucky, you might find it already ripped into your skin and soaked with blood.

Ticks are parasitic blood-sucking bacteria that can spread deadly diseases and are becoming increasingly common. Here’s what you should know about them:

Ticks are arachnids, close relatives of ticks and distant relatives of spiders.there is Over 800 species of mites are found worldwide, 84 documented in the United States. However, only a handful of people in the United States can transmit disease through bites. The most common are black-footed ticks (also known as deer ticks, but they feed on many animals other than deer), lone star ticks, American dog ticks, and brown dog ticks.

After hatching, tick eggs go through three life stages: larvae, nymphs, and adults. Both male and female ticks feed by inserting their barbed, straw-like mouthparts into the skin of their host (unlike mosquitoes, which only bite females preparing to lay eggs). However, only female ticks drink water until they become engorged.

“When you see a female with a huge, swollen belly, it means she’s laying eggs and going through that life cycle process all over again,” says Kate Chapman, an extension educator and urban entomologist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

These arachnids change dramatically in size and appearance depending on their age and the amount of blood they drink. “This nymph black-footed mite, this unfed mite, when you put it on a poppy seed bagel, it blends in really well,” said Dr. Thomas Mather, professor of public health entomology at the University of Rhode Island and director of the University’s Center for Vectorborne Disease and the school’s Center for Tick Encounter Resources. On the other hand, when adult females of the same species are full, they can swell to the size of a pea.

Tick ​​bites and illness

Although there are months when various species and life stages are more active, tick bites can occur at any time of the year. If you (or your pet) find ticks on you, you should remove them carefully.

“I recommend using tweezers to grab the tick head as close to the skin as possible and pull it straight out,” Chapman says. “You don’t want to twist it, because it can leave part of its mouthparts embedded in the skin. And you don’t want to grab it, because any pressure on the body can cause the tick to regurgitate more, increasing your chances of contracting a tick-borne disease.”

You may be tempted to pop the tick you just removed, but it’s better to remove it with hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol and save it for a professional or at least to take a picture. That way, you can identify what type of tick it is and how long it has been feeding.of the University of Rhode Island The TickEncounter website has tools Determined based on color, size, and geographic location.

Identifying ticks is important because certain types of ticks carry different diseases. They can pick up bacteria, viruses, and other microbes from the blood of infected hosts and pass those pathogens on to their surroundings when they bite new victims.

For example, the larvae and nymphs of black-footed mites often feed on white-footed mice. May carry a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi. When ticks that have sucked on these infected mice suck on humans, the bacteria can be transmitted and cause Lyme disease.

Lone star ticks, on the other hand, do not feed on deer mice, so they are not carriers of Lyme disease. (However, they carry other disease-causing microbes, and their bites can introduce sugar molecules into the bloodstream. cause allergies to red meat. )

Tick-borne diseases can be debilitating and life-threatening, and the longer a tick is in the body, the greater the risk of infection. There are some treatments, but it’s best to avoid being bitten in the first place.

Various studies suggest factors that may play a role in attracting ticks. Relationship between tick attraction and static electricity in a laboratory environment. Ticks are also attracted to cues such as carbon dioxide exhaled by animals, but tend to wait rather than actively seek out prey.

“Contrary to popular belief, they don’t fall out of trees. For example, they sit on the edge of a tall blade of grass hanging somewhere and stick out their paws. We call it a quest,” said Chapman. “The tick waits for the host to pass by its immediate vicinity, and this is primarily how people become infected with ticks. They pass by ticks. It gets on their feet and clothes.”

Moth repellents are available that contain DEET, picaridin, and lemon eucalyptus oil. Environmental Protection Agency Approval to protect against ticks. However, these chemicals work differently against ticks than they do against mosquitoes.

For example, in the same way that DEET affects mosquitoes, instead of interfering with the tick’s ability to find prey, DEET “burns the tick’s legs, causing them to burn, causing them to fall off,” Mather said. Plus, “it doesn’t burn very quickly once it dries, so it doesn’t last very long for mites.”

Instead, Chapman recommends covering your skin and tucking the cuffs of your pants into your socks to avoid tick bites. Throw your clothes in the dryer as soon as you get home, even before you wash them, as dust mites can be killed in as little as 30 minutes in the dryer.

Furthermore, “We support” wearing permethrin-treated clothing — much more effective than bug spray,” Mather said. “It blocks the nerve conduction of the ticks, making them extremely agitated, quickly incapacitated and eventually killed.”

These precautions may seem extreme, but for Mather, they’re the way of the future. Because “we live in a world of ‘more ticks in more places’, and more people are exposed to the virus.”

Climate change could play a role Although caused by a tick infestation, Mather said he believes the influx of parasites has something to do with white-tailed deer becoming more common in areas where humans are densely populated. As a result, “more people are being exposed to ticks breeding on white-tailed deer,” he said.

Despite the prevalence of ticks and the severity of the illness they cause, Chapman stressed that ticks shouldn’t be holding you hostage in your home if you take proper precautions (for you and your pets – ask your veterinarian for tick preventatives).

“Yes, ticks exist. Sure, they can be a public health problem, but we don’t want them to keep us indoors because of them,” she said. “You should be able to go out and enjoy nature, but you need to do another check. So take some time. Do it.”

Kate Golembiowski Chicago-based freelance science writer and zoology, thermodynamics, and death enthusiast. She hosts the comedy talk show A Scientist Walks Into a Bar.