Given the the known association of ticks with deer, why aren't local governments doing more to eradicate deer? NY has only a short hunting season, and the limits are only two animals per hunter. More must be done to eliminate the growing population. I live in Dutchess County, where we are inundated with them. There's not only the increase in ticks, but the deer do an extraordinary amount of damage to plants, particularly during the dead winter months when there is little in the forest to munch on. The best way to control deer is to kill them. But the current conservation laws are unrealistic, and there's no threat of extinction.
33
There was a vaccine for Lyme disease, but it was killed by the anti-vaccers and the people who became the Lyme Disease Activists. It's still available for dogs, thankfully. It's a shame that it can't be brought back for humans.
23
As the Times points out, the tick population is expanding and the incidence of Lyme Disease is growing. But the numbers that the CDC reports significantly underestimate the true prevalence of LD. CDC surveillance criteria are extremely restrictive; when clinical criteria are used, two studies approximate the true incidence at 1,000,000 new cases per year. Other studies reveal that up to 60% of infected people develop chronic symptoms, particularly fatigue, muscle and joint pain, cognitive dysfunction, sleep disorders, anxiety and depression. Many of these chronic symptoms are due to coinfections, particularly Babesia and Bartonella. Complicating the issue is that a large number of people never observe a tick attachment or a rash, but develop chronic fatiguing illnesses and neuropsych issues that go misdiagnosed.
Unfortunately, the altitude in the Rockies does not preclude LD in Colorado. I wish that were true, but I have many patients who contracted LD and coinfections here in CO, despite the fact that the Department of Health denies it. Colorado tick fever is also here but relatively rare. Ironically, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is more prevalent in the southeast than in the Rockies.
Unfortunately, the altitude in the Rockies does not preclude LD in Colorado. I wish that were true, but I have many patients who contracted LD and coinfections here in CO, despite the fact that the Department of Health denies it. Colorado tick fever is also here but relatively rare. Ironically, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is more prevalent in the southeast than in the Rockies.
22
I find it odd that the article failed to mention the major cause of this tick outbreak, which is climate change. A warming planet means the growth of many diseases and pests that were kept in check to some extent by cold weather. Ultimately saturating suburban lawns with toxic chemicals won't solve the larger problem. Only a reduction in carbon pollution will do that.
50
Other tick-borne diseases with serious consequences exist in the United States in the Rocky Mountains where the altitude is too high for Lyme Disease but one still needs to take precautions.
Those on holiday in the Rocky Mountain West must still cover up in the mountains and High Plains as though in the Midwest or Northeast.
Colorado Tick Fever, for example, presents in three to four days of a tick bite with severe headache and high fever. It is a reportable condition to the CDC and state depts of Public Health but is often misdiagnosed. CTF can lead to Encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain with long-term serious consequences.
The best preventive is to cover up in the mountains and High Plains as you do in other parts of America.
The Rocky Mountain West is magnificent country. Be prepared, as they say in the Scouts. Cover up, check for ticks and note the incubation and the symptoms.
Those on holiday in the Rocky Mountain West must still cover up in the mountains and High Plains as though in the Midwest or Northeast.
Colorado Tick Fever, for example, presents in three to four days of a tick bite with severe headache and high fever. It is a reportable condition to the CDC and state depts of Public Health but is often misdiagnosed. CTF can lead to Encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain with long-term serious consequences.
The best preventive is to cover up in the mountains and High Plains as you do in other parts of America.
The Rocky Mountain West is magnificent country. Be prepared, as they say in the Scouts. Cover up, check for ticks and note the incubation and the symptoms.
11
Correction: two different blood tests...
8
It would be helpful if TNYT were to show, enlarged, photos of the various ticks so that people would be more familiar with them and better able to identify them.
37
LIZARDS PEOPLE LIZARDS. Some lizards carry tick killing anti bodies. They also eat ticks. When you destroy lizards you get rid of your best anti tick device. Protection for cute Pandas, exciting sharks, and soaring eagles is great. However, the other smaller less video friendly critters are important.
http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Lizard-tick-Lyme-disease-study-yie...
http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Lizard-tick-Lyme-disease-study-yie...
27
If you find a tick, any tick, any where, you can put it in an envelope and send it to the address provided by bayarealyme.org. Depending on the type of tick and where it was found, they will test it for up to 6 different tick transmitted pathogens. FOR FREE!!! They provide results via email in about 6 weeks. They are trying to establish the prevalence and distribution of the pathogens. The 2 ticks I have sent in were both free of pathogens, providing some comfort.
28
I'm sure President Trump and his team of scientists will get right on this!
24
Ok, I've had Chronic Lyme/babesiosis for 6 years. It is VERY REAL.
I spent 5 years in the wilderness of ignorant/arrogant doctors who did nothing for me. I found a Lyme literate MD who put me in a 9 month herbal antibiotic treatment. It helped a bit but kicked into high gear when I acquired an infrared sauna to allow me to sweat out the spirochetes that have been killed off. It made ALL the difference. Lyme is a plague and criminal that we are on our own to ferret out solutions through the thickets of misinformation and medical ignorance.
I spent 5 years in the wilderness of ignorant/arrogant doctors who did nothing for me. I found a Lyme literate MD who put me in a 9 month herbal antibiotic treatment. It helped a bit but kicked into high gear when I acquired an infrared sauna to allow me to sweat out the spirochetes that have been killed off. It made ALL the difference. Lyme is a plague and criminal that we are on our own to ferret out solutions through the thickets of misinformation and medical ignorance.
26
Good article and always appreciate your tick vigilance. One overlooked item can be described in a couplet. Not exactly Shakespeare but:
If you get bit, then
KEEP THAT TICK.
It can help with the diagnosis if you find yourself with symptoms. Put it in a pillbox with a green leaf.
If you get bit, then
KEEP THAT TICK.
It can help with the diagnosis if you find yourself with symptoms. Put it in a pillbox with a green leaf.
18
I worry about the beneficial insects and wild life that is killed with spraying.
31
I really hope you're kidding here.
6
Bard College's professor Felicia Keesing and Cary Institute's Richard Ostfeld - they are married - know ticks. The Times has covered them. Ticks are growing nightmare. Anaplasmosis in cattle wipes out red blood cells. Vectors by tick, mosquito and the common needle. Our DVM spread anaplasmosis to 90 of our herd. He failed to clear hundreds of cattle purchased in Georgia, Texas and Oklahoma. He then vaccinated. Did not change needles. It's one needle per now.
It took two years. Geo different blood tests on every one 35 days apart. Seems we're clean, now. We will continue to test. Ticks last a while. Carry illnesses. Our cattle came sick and as carriers. Testing we now do would have protected us.
The remedy: by needle, tiny amounts of tetracycline. At intervals. Expensive. Squeeze chutes require farm labor and the DVM that caused it cured it under supervision by Cornell. Zurich American next.
Most just drown the livestock in tetracycline by mouth. Cures nothing. Loads white fat. Doubles weight gain. Sells bloat and obesity to consumers.
Cornell Ag is smart. The others use the tetracycline in water.
We may be unique.
It took two years. Geo different blood tests on every one 35 days apart. Seems we're clean, now. We will continue to test. Ticks last a while. Carry illnesses. Our cattle came sick and as carriers. Testing we now do would have protected us.
The remedy: by needle, tiny amounts of tetracycline. At intervals. Expensive. Squeeze chutes require farm labor and the DVM that caused it cured it under supervision by Cornell. Zurich American next.
Most just drown the livestock in tetracycline by mouth. Cures nothing. Loads white fat. Doubles weight gain. Sells bloat and obesity to consumers.
Cornell Ag is smart. The others use the tetracycline in water.
We may be unique.
20
Cull the deer. There are far too many.
21
The problem goes way beyond deer. Small animals like squirrels and rodents carry tick-borne pathogens. Birds do, too, and birds migrate. All of these animals live in people's yards.
16
Anyone ever wonder how Lyme disease got its name? Ground Zero for the disease is the town of Lyme, CT a one-hour ferry ride from a biotech warfare facility on Plum Island. One of the key research scientists was an ex-Nazi named Erich Traub, who ran a biowarfare facility during WW II on an island in the Baltic Sea. Plum Island sits in the middle of a major bird-migration flyway. Deer have been known to swim that distance. The disease was unknown before 1970. You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to connect these dots. But if you're looking for background, find the article on the subject from a back issue of Yankee Magazine.
20
And after a scare article like this, people will continue to make rash decisions, such as carpet-bombing their property with chemicals that in the long run will poison them, their families, neighbors, soil, waterways, and wildlife, and will not (and there's the big rub) eliminate the threat of tick born diseases...just add more threat to the mix. Trading one threat for another (though the rub is no matter how many poisons we spray on our properties, we will not eliminate or probably even lessen the threat posed by ticks. We are destroying the natural tick predator populations and habitats, and pushing everything to the limits, and these are the results. We avoid responsibility for rebuilding our habitat and restoring natural tick predator populations.
25
There's no "scare" in this article, it simply describes the situation we're in. Anyone who has lived through 8 years of treating these multiple infections (me) appreciates articles like this. Maybe some lives can be saved. But I agree that carpet-bombing with chemicals won't work. That doesn't mean this problem shouldn't be exposed. There are precautions other than chemical sprays that can be taken.
14
There is absolutely no evidence that chemical use reduces the tick population - even mentioned in this article, a sprayed garden didn't protect a toddler (and possibly exposed her to toxic chemicals that lack thoughtful regulation compared to other developed countries). More ecological solutions can be implemented for tick control, starting with protective clothing, short grass and welcoming opposums and birds.
29
Is it time we develop frontline for humans?
20
The earth will survive climate change, but humans won't. Just another example.
15
Hmmm, its getting warm enough for plants and vegetation to spread their range northward. The annual Bird Count reveals birds in locations once thought too chilly for them and now considered part of their home range. But, we thought ticks and other insects wouldn't follow this same pattern? How quaint!
28
The fact that ticks are now becoming a really serious public health problem in most of the nation shows the urgent need to address the deer population explosion.
Pussyfooting around with deer contraceptives will not do the job. We need to start shooting more deer - especially females - urgently.
Perhaps the resulting meat can be given to homeless shelters, schools, and prisons. Venison is considered a luxury food in many countries.
The alternative of reintroducing native species top level predators (mountain lions and wolf packs) is clearly not practical for a variety of reasons.
Similarly, we should stop demonizing feral cats, which play a vital role in keeping field mouse and rabbit populations in check.
Pussyfooting around with deer contraceptives will not do the job. We need to start shooting more deer - especially females - urgently.
Perhaps the resulting meat can be given to homeless shelters, schools, and prisons. Venison is considered a luxury food in many countries.
The alternative of reintroducing native species top level predators (mountain lions and wolf packs) is clearly not practical for a variety of reasons.
Similarly, we should stop demonizing feral cats, which play a vital role in keeping field mouse and rabbit populations in check.
23
A woman with an outdoor cat moved next door, and the mockingbird and jay populations on my block audibly declined. I could hear that mockingbirds were avoiding my whole block. Probably because that cat went out hunting in the morning and didn't come back for hours.
What do birds do for my local neighborhood ecosystem? They eat incects! Like mosquitoes and ticks for example. And furthermore, they process the calcium and phosphorus in the insect exoskeletons into a nutrient-rich fertilizer that they kindly spread on the trees in which they roost.
So the trees are eating the nutrients in the insects by way of the insects being eaten by the birds. And we need those trees in Pasadena. They are carbon sinks and they provide shade and prevent heat islands from forming.
An outdoor bird-hunting cat is a not a good thing to put in the middle of that important natural cycle.
What do birds do for my local neighborhood ecosystem? They eat incects! Like mosquitoes and ticks for example. And furthermore, they process the calcium and phosphorus in the insect exoskeletons into a nutrient-rich fertilizer that they kindly spread on the trees in which they roost.
So the trees are eating the nutrients in the insects by way of the insects being eaten by the birds. And we need those trees in Pasadena. They are carbon sinks and they provide shade and prevent heat islands from forming.
An outdoor bird-hunting cat is a not a good thing to put in the middle of that important natural cycle.
18
Bats are even more effective eaters of insects.
6
Feral cats are the number one cause of bird deaths in the US. They may kill rabbits and mice, but so do foxes, coyotes and wolves.
14
Perfect time to start taking away everyone's health insurance.
66
Though the Center for Disease Control acknowledges tick-borne illnesses are a serious problem and are on the rise, they refuse to put any money toward funding. Millions of dollars go toward Zika virus which affects a small amount of the population compared to Lyme disease. The CDC recently admitted the number of confirmed cases reported is probably only one tenth of the total number of cases. There is no money, to my knowledge, being distributed for "tick control projects", as there is for mosquitoes. The politics involved in the treatment guidelines has helped nobody. It is time for some serious money to be put toward research, treatment, and best environmental practices to put a dent in this public health crisis. I would love to see reporting on this!
51
Global warming is imaginary. Ignore all evidence and abandon all efforts to control it. Burn lots of fossil fuels, to make American great again.
30
Since 2005 I have been treated for Lyme disease four times. Each time it has been a new infection. I have learned to recognize my symptoms as it can vary in individuals.
14
I have Lyme Disease and its no joke - three courses of antibiotics and its dormant. I had flu like symptoms for three days almost to the point of incapacity - and the lower the backache was almost intolerable and of course I found the bulls eye. I apparently got it in December, a few years back when the weather was extremely warm. So my advice or warning - it might not be the flu and you can get it at just about any time.
24
i got it 9 years ago, and it keeps coming back. Lymes is not a joke. I have family members who have arthritis and heart murmurs from it! Try and stay healthy! that is the secret to fighting this insidious bug.
12
Continue work on genetic engineering to create infertile and otherwise compromised mosquitoes and ticks. Yes, nature purists will be outraged, but millions of humans won't die. And I have yet to see a verifiable study that determines the world will collapse if mosquitoes and ticks were suddenly to vanish.
25
Why not instead genetically engineer ticks that produce antibodies to the specific pathogens/toxins that they normally host?
4
A lot of species eat mosquitoes. A good mosquito control plan would be to restore the wetlands that provide habitat for those species.
5
So they produce antibodies to the N different diseases currently carried by mosquitoes and ticks. Now disease N+1 comes along and they have to start all over again. That path is never-ending. Get rid of mosquitoes and ticks. No one will miss them.
6
My wife and I live in the woods in Tennessee. Our woods are full of deer and ticks. We keep a tick kit by the bed. Alcohol, cotton balls and tweezers, and check each other daily. Ticks we find on each other are dropped into a jar of alcohol. Don't squash ticks. Don't burn them. If you see one crawling on you when you're outside just flick it off. Some of our neighbors have chickens in the yard. Chickens are very effective for tick control. This article doesn't mention the tick-related disease most prevalent in Tennessee: Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. It can kill you but is very treatable if caught early. Headache and unusually high fever are symptoms.
55
discipline, vilgilance, long pants, and shirts, dtt on the curfs, a shower after outdoor exposure in plant envirnoment, aka not the subway or street so far.
9
True. Dress right. Shorts don't belong in the woods. Towel dry carefully can get em most of the time.
10
I suspect we will also be seeing more cases of tick-borne relapsing fever (TBRF), a nasty disease that can easily kill you if not treated properly. Although it mostly occurs west of the Mississippi, there is a tick subspecies in Florida that could carry it, so east-coasters might need to watch out too. TBRF is underreported and doctors often don't know about it, so if you or your child gets it you may need to do some sleuthing. See:
http://www.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/relapsing-fever/overview.html
http://www.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/relapsing-fever/overview.html
8
Why doesn't this article mention climate change?
33
Because you can't blame everything on climate change.
3
There is a solution for Long Island which is the elimination of the deer population on the island. Of course the people who view each deer as Bambi will be against it but would you rather get a tick disease in your family or solve the problem.
12
Eliminate the deer, and the ticks will have nothing left to eat but people. They're not just going to sit back and accept starvation.
8
Deer aren't the main problem. The white-footed mouse is the primary reservoir for Lyme disease which is then passed on to humans.
5
Mice spread ticks also.
4
There's only one answer to this epidemic: We've got to pave the forests, erect more astronomically priced condos and require the "The Tick" movie carry a black-box warning.
13
An owner of a vacation home in Suffolk County, and having devoted some time researching this, here's what I've learned: The most effective means of reducing the threat from ticks is to cull the deer. If you reduce the deer population to below 12 per square mile, you will eliminate the threat entirely. Ticks use mice and other animals to survive, but don't become a significant threat until they feast upon a deer's blood. Because the deer have few natural preditors (e.g., bobcats, wolves), man must reduce the deer population by controlled hunting. The "four-posted" solution (which entices the deer to feed on corn to dowse them with premitherin) may kill some ticks, but the availability of large amounts of corn only sustains the deer population. Sorry Bambi, but culling the deer is the only answer to the tick problem.
34
You are misinformed. Deer are not carriers of Lyme disease. It's the mice, and other small rodents. When ticks feed on deer, they're in the adult stage, which is the last stage of their life cycle, after which they mate, lay eggs (females only, of course), and die. If they are carrying the pathogen (which they would have picked up in an earlier stage), and happen to pass it to the deer, there is no effect, as deer are immune to Lyme.
8
"Ticks use mice and other animals to survive, but don't become a significant threat until they feast upon a deer's blood."
Where on earth do you get your information? Deer are dead-end hosts, just as we are. Mice are the reservoirs. They are the problem.
Where on earth do you get your information? Deer are dead-end hosts, just as we are. Mice are the reservoirs. They are the problem.
2
Why not cull the "human problem"? For tens of thousands of years, the human population remained under 1 billion. Since the Industrial Revolution, human population has swelled to 7.5 billion, with no apex predator, and a refusal to use birth control. If 7.5 billion people buy cars, is it harder on the planet than if 1 billion people buy cars?
I'll keep the deer, thanks, and get more proactive on birth control. Humans are the invaders, not deer.
I'll keep the deer, thanks, and get more proactive on birth control. Humans are the invaders, not deer.
9
It isn't just coastal ocean rise, or increasing storms, or discomforting heat. The worst of the global warming repuglicans are working to bring us will be invasions of tiny creatures and dread diseases, devastating our human civilization and species in years and decades ahead.
Future generations -- those who survive -- will look back on us and rightly call us The Worst Generation.
Future generations -- those who survive -- will look back on us and rightly call us The Worst Generation.
45
So people would rather walk across their lawns and let their children play in the yard full of chemicals sprayed to kill ticks. Tumors in dogs are on the increase due to lawns treated with chemicals, children will be next.
40
Yes. Yes we would. Tick diseases are nasty things that can kill and disable even faster than cancer.
7
Very frightening-- as is this account about former NC Senator Kay Hagen, who remains in rehabilitation, unable to speak, almost six months later, even though she seems to have excellent medical care right after she was bitten.
http://myfox8.com/2017/07/17/kay-hagan-released-from-atlanta-hospital-re...
http://myfox8.com/2017/07/17/kay-hagan-released-from-atlanta-hospital-re...
15
But we don't need a national healthcare plan. What are we going to do when increasing numbers of mosquitos, ticks, fleas, etc, spread increasingly virulent strains of viruses and other micro-organisms and uninsured, thus, unvaccinated and untreated folks by the dozens incubate the resultant diseases as they become yet more virulent and infect hundreds who go on to infect thousands who carry them to distant lands?
Can you spell: pandemic?
Can you spell: pandemic?
18
I live there. I had Lyme and babesiosis in the past. I have Guinea fowl. Chickens are good, too. They LOVE bugs. All day long they comb through grass in my yard, scooping up all the ants, ticks, winged gauzy critters. Haven't seen a tick for years. A lot cheaper than dousing your property with poison, then letting your kids out to play in the yard, like my neighbors do. I just throw them some seed right before they go to bed. I also make sure I adequately feed and water them in winter, when there aren't any bugs around. Yeah, they're noisy at times, but you'd be surprised how quickly they become used to the postal carrier, UPS, etc. They even run to meet my car.
I just wish they could find more slugs to eat. Unfortunately, slugs are too well hidden during the day.
I just wish they could find more slugs to eat. Unfortunately, slugs are too well hidden during the day.
42
Hychkok - great point about chickens! I've been wanting to get chickens, but we have raccoons and foxes (and a very occasional coyote) here in central NJ. And I have indoor-outdoor cats. Do your chickens attract more predators to your property, and do those predators? (I'm concerned they would bother my cats.)
7
How utterly frightening ! I contracted Lyme Disease and then on top of that, Babesiosis while living in Connecticut - became 'legally disabled' and treated with IV for 15 months when moved to California. Insurance at that time did not pay for any tests or treatment leaving me in the 'poor house' literally. Worst though was how few showed any understanding or real concern during all those years when I was so seriously ill (brain swelling, degenerative spine disease). You feel half dead! I can only hope that by now people do realize how serious this illness is and show empathy for those suffering from it.
59
Informative in such a limited way it amounts to an exploitative scare story, implying you can only be safe from the tick menace by staying indoors or away from wilderness. Wish it had
- Explained protection offered by spraying 30% DEET repellant on skin
- Informed about 40-day protection offered by spraying permethrin on clothes
- Explained why the vaccine against Lyme was withdrawn from the market and what other protective measures are available
- Explained protection offered by spraying 30% DEET repellant on skin
- Informed about 40-day protection offered by spraying permethrin on clothes
- Explained why the vaccine against Lyme was withdrawn from the market and what other protective measures are available
26
Explained how ticks ride your dog inside, then climb up on you from your carpet or the edge of the bedspread that's touching the floor.
8
Is this article just a promo for East End Tick and Mosquito Control? It seems a bit strange that the company is hyperlinked.
As many readers have noted, the article fails to emphasize the role of an increasing deer population, which we have also had here in the SF Bay area, in the spread of Lyme's disease, as well as the common sense measures people can take to protect themselves.
I am not sure walking barefoot on a lawn sprayed with pesticide is really the best solution to the tick problem.
As many readers have noted, the article fails to emphasize the role of an increasing deer population, which we have also had here in the SF Bay area, in the spread of Lyme's disease, as well as the common sense measures people can take to protect themselves.
I am not sure walking barefoot on a lawn sprayed with pesticide is really the best solution to the tick problem.
18
One major positive we have here in California is that the Western Fence Lizard, which hosts many tick nymphs during the winter, seems to have something in its blood which eliminates Lyme disease. Scientists have posited that's the main reason Lyme infects on the West Coast at rates almost 90% less than the East. That being said, we recently fenced our entire property to keep out deer, less because they were eating the fruit trees (which they were) and more to keep away them and their ticks.
11
This article does not mention anaplasmosis, a tick-borne disease that is thriving in the Hudson valley. I developed a near-fatal case of this disease last fall, and was in an ICU for 8 days after developing multiple organ (kidneys, heart and lungs) failure. Luckily, I have fully recovered, thanks to a team of critical care and infectious disease specialists. Still, it took months for my heart and lung function to return to normal. Climate change seems to be contributing to the increase in ticks carrying once rare diseases formerly seen mostly in tropical areas.
35
Local and state governments are partly to blame for letting this get to an crisis-level. As the numbers of ticks and infections were growing, it seems many governments actively kept tick-borne illnesses quiet so as to not harm tourism.
Permethrin treated clothes are your friend if you need to go in to tick country, which is pretty much anywhere at this point.
Permethrin treated clothes are your friend if you need to go in to tick country, which is pretty much anywhere at this point.
12
sssh! Don't tell the tourists there's a tick disease problem on Cape Cod, Long Island and other places. Ruins business, ya know.
5
This warning is overdue. My father, who lives in Rockland, was hospitalized with babesiosis ten years ago. Doctors first misdiagnosed him as having sepsis and proceeded to put him on a useless course of intravenous antibiotics. As his condition worsened, things got really scary. It is only thanks to a doctor friend, who happens to be a top infectious disease guy, that dad is alive today.
I rang him on vacation and he quizzed me about dad's habits (gardening in a wooded area) and his hospital state. It took about six questions in five minutes for him to guess that dad had contracted this terrifying and then-rare disease.
What was harder was extracting dad from the hospital upstate. The doctors there did not test him for babesiosis and were belligerent about having him moved to Mt. Sinai, where my physician friend had arranged a bed. We literally had to fight to get dad released to the care of the waiting ambulance team.
By the time he was wheeled into his new hospital room in the city, dad could barely speak. Babesiosis attacks the red blood cells like malaria and precious time had been lost. A test confirmed that my father had the disease and he was finally placed on the correct meds. He remained at the hospital for a week and still had to go home with oxygen.
It was, to say the least, a close call. Without the help of a talented diagnostician--who only met his patient after stubborn family intervention--dad would not be here today.
Thank you, Dr. Eric.
I rang him on vacation and he quizzed me about dad's habits (gardening in a wooded area) and his hospital state. It took about six questions in five minutes for him to guess that dad had contracted this terrifying and then-rare disease.
What was harder was extracting dad from the hospital upstate. The doctors there did not test him for babesiosis and were belligerent about having him moved to Mt. Sinai, where my physician friend had arranged a bed. We literally had to fight to get dad released to the care of the waiting ambulance team.
By the time he was wheeled into his new hospital room in the city, dad could barely speak. Babesiosis attacks the red blood cells like malaria and precious time had been lost. A test confirmed that my father had the disease and he was finally placed on the correct meds. He remained at the hospital for a week and still had to go home with oxygen.
It was, to say the least, a close call. Without the help of a talented diagnostician--who only met his patient after stubborn family intervention--dad would not be here today.
Thank you, Dr. Eric.
90
"With the expansion of the suburbs and a push to conserve wooded areas, deer and mice populations are thriving." Compared to what? When? before there were suburbs, or woods? Gibberish.
7
Take Georgia. In the thirties when the state was rural, there were about 300,000 deer. Deer meat was an important farm table staple. They were hunted constantly.
Today, there are over 4 million deer in the state. Same holds true for your area, whether it's Maine or Washington State.
Today, there are over 4 million deer in the state. Same holds true for your area, whether it's Maine or Washington State.
26
The irrigated landscapes and lack of predators that the expansion of suburbs bring allows deer populations to expand almost without limit.
16
It bears mentioning that Chronic Wasting Disease is expanding-- managing deer populations to stop the spread of this awful scourge isn't going to be done by people looking to eat deer meat (the prions can infect humans).
3
I am disappointed that nowhere is the root cause of Lyme disease noted: too many deer. Here on Eastern Long Island deer are estimated to be at least twenty times ‘natural’ carrying capacity. Deer overpopulation is an environmental catastrophe, a leading cause of car deaths, and a key link in the Lyme disease chain.
Reducing the deer population is the best way to get rid of tick-borne diseases. In Bridgeport CT the deer population was reduced by 74% and the number of nymphal ticks dropped by 94%. The deer population on Monhegan Island in Maine was eliminated. Within three years Lyme disease virtually disappeared. The deer are also destroying our forests. Here on the East End our forests are denuded of new growth, thanks to over-browsing.
Adding more pesticide to the environment is almost always a bad idea. Widely used Permethrin is a broad-spectrum chemical that kills indiscriminately. It can harm beneficial insects and is extremely toxic to aquatic life.
Any plan to attack Lyme disease must include a plan to reduce deer populations.
Reducing the deer population is the best way to get rid of tick-borne diseases. In Bridgeport CT the deer population was reduced by 74% and the number of nymphal ticks dropped by 94%. The deer population on Monhegan Island in Maine was eliminated. Within three years Lyme disease virtually disappeared. The deer are also destroying our forests. Here on the East End our forests are denuded of new growth, thanks to over-browsing.
Adding more pesticide to the environment is almost always a bad idea. Widely used Permethrin is a broad-spectrum chemical that kills indiscriminately. It can harm beneficial insects and is extremely toxic to aquatic life.
Any plan to attack Lyme disease must include a plan to reduce deer populations.
115
Ken of Sag Harbor, It's not the deer pop., it's the human pop. Read, “Even though you may live in an area where you didn’t have ticks in the past or your parents don’t remember having ticks, the distribution is changing,” Ticks, as well as deer, never used to be seen, (except in woods.) As human development overtakes all previously undisturbed areas, the 'distribution' of all species changes, but it begins... w/ the uncontrolled over-population of only one species on this planet, the same one who remains totally focused on 'controlling' the population of all the others, except one.
7
Actually, white-footed mice, not deer, are the most predominant vectors.
22
Read the comment re foxes. Mice are most likely a greater problem than deer although deer herds should be controlled for other reasons as well
4
The article didn't mention Manhattan. That's where I live.
5
Say good bye to sitting on grass. We Southerners never sit down outside on anything due to ticks, fire ants, chiggers, spiders, and other biters.
11
The New Yorker had a very interesting article a few months back regarding altering the genetic code of mice so they were immune to lyme disease with the hope that the number of ticks that carry the disease decreased.
13
Yes, I believe the scientist conducting this research was asking the residents of either Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard to vote and approve the study on the controlled environment of the island.
3
You can fight back-- on your property. Beneficial nematodes are available that prey on beetle grubs, ticks and fleas. Try the non-chemical solution.
16
Thank you.....doing some reading on nematodes now.
4
My dog has a chewable tablet to treat and to prevent flea and tick infestations. I give it to her every 12 weeks. My vet has recommended it because ticks are now being found in southern Ontario. When will we get pills for humans to prevent tick and hopefully mosquito and black fly infestations?
24
You go first!
3
Our dog is also on a similar medication and still developed anaplasmosis. We live in the Hudson Valley in New York. Clearly these meds are not 100% effective.
2
These tabs, and collars, and drops, are all toxins. We would have a hard time preventing our dogs from picking up ticks, and it's hard to see them in their fur. So we give them poisons that may shorten their lives (or give them other ailments) but allow them to avoid the immediate acute illnesses that ticks and other pests infect them with.
Humans can protect ourselves from exposure better, and see the parasites on our bodies more easily... we are less likely to accept the trade-offs that pesticide use in our bodies entails.
Humans can protect ourselves from exposure better, and see the parasites on our bodies more easily... we are less likely to accept the trade-offs that pesticide use in our bodies entails.
3
My work as an environmental consultant designing septic systems on undeveloped land in the NE has put me in the bullseye, pardon the pun. I used to get the Lyme-Rix vaccine until it was pulled due to lawsuits in the early 1990's.
We need to get the CDC and NIH fast-tracking vaccines to help stem the exponential rise in these viral diseases. If we cannot, since maybe it isn't financially rewarding enough, we might contract with researchers in more "developed" parts of the world, say the U.K. or Germany, to develop them for us.
It's been 30-40 years and zero help from our "for-profit" medical system to get us some help, yet nothing comes along.
We need to get the CDC and NIH fast-tracking vaccines to help stem the exponential rise in these viral diseases. If we cannot, since maybe it isn't financially rewarding enough, we might contract with researchers in more "developed" parts of the world, say the U.K. or Germany, to develop them for us.
It's been 30-40 years and zero help from our "for-profit" medical system to get us some help, yet nothing comes along.
62
And if they do, only wealthy individuals with platinum health insurance will receive or get it. (See other article about Hep C drugs in today's NYT).
13
While not dismissing the concerns about tick born illnesses I find this article as well as other institutional reaction to vector ( an organism that transmits a pathogen from reservoir to host) born diseases to border on paranoia. It is the reaction of a people who are further & further removed from the natural world then any time in human history. People won't garden, kids aren't allowed to go anywhere other than yards resembling sterilized manicured putting greens & fear is the order of the day. Perhaps rather than spray more poisons everywhere causing more problems than it solves we need to understand why this is a problem and how we caused it. Consider the rise in mice & deer (reservoirs) because of the reduction in predation. We both deliberately & inadvertently harm the very animals that would reduce the number of deer & mice & the ticks they spread. We unnaturally increase the number of deer in both rural (for hunting) & urban (Bambi syndrome) areas leading to dramatic tick population explosions. We kill off or damage necessary habitat of a number of small and larger predators that would keep both the vectors and reservoirs in check. We stay in doors and long for a sterilized natural world free of hazards. I live near part of the Great Lakes system and people want the nearby lake to basically be a large swimming pool with fish. So hiding & panic is not the answer, better environmental stewardship, hazard reduction & education is.
53
Amen. Here in Maryland, just North of DC, I have yet to see any sign of ticks this year, and only one tick last year. I attribute this to our vibrant ecosystem, especially an abundance of birds. We were landlord this year to the biggest Robin I have ever seen, who raised three young from a nest on top of our back door light under an awning. She would spend hours hunting insects in our back yard.
8
I totally agree. The article fails to mention how long it takes to transmit a virus after the tick has attached itself (about 36 hours) and also the beneficial effects of a back yard full of birds and possums. Common sense, soaking clothes in permethrin for hikes in the woods, a good pair of tweezers and a full-body mirror, plus a healthy respect and love for the outdoors are all that's required. I fear this article will just encourage more urbanites in their germaphobe ways.
9
True, but . . .
. . . ticks have definitely gotten worse. Growing up and running around in the woods, I'd find maybe 1-2 ticks on me in a summer, and they were mostly wood ticks. I still find 1-2 ticks a year, but they are deer ticks and I spend probably 1% as much time in the woods as I did as a kid.
Ticks are decimating the moose population, partially due to a huge increase in the moose population in the last 20 years, but also because warmer winters are letting more ticks survive.
. . . ticks have definitely gotten worse. Growing up and running around in the woods, I'd find maybe 1-2 ticks on me in a summer, and they were mostly wood ticks. I still find 1-2 ticks a year, but they are deer ticks and I spend probably 1% as much time in the woods as I did as a kid.
Ticks are decimating the moose population, partially due to a huge increase in the moose population in the last 20 years, but also because warmer winters are letting more ticks survive.
6
Ticks are not expanding because woodlands are being preserved: they already were woodlands. the main reason is probably the decline in songbirds, which reflects several factors, including pet predation and proliferation of nest parasites like cowbirds, which many people misguidedly feed by maintaining bird feeders throughout the summer. If we mess with the environment, it will mess with us.
20
Lack of deer hunting. Deer can carry a lot of them. One "lost" dog can carry hundreds.
4
Insect populations on the move is from climate change, another external cost borne by all from burning fossil fuels. The present Administration is both anti-believer in climate change and anti-science. In yesterday's meeting of the Dems, not even a mention of global warming/climate change as an issue (also banks except for a question; the answ: later). Granted, saving Democracy is now of the upmost importance.
Years ago, i would occasionally get a tick hiking the Marin headlands. One day i sat down next to a low bush. On that bush were hundreds of ticks. Where you find them, there are lots of them. Ladybugs the same, where they hatch it is the appearance of the inside of a beehive.
Diagnosis: About 10 yrs ago, Qiagen, the maker of DNAeasy kits, talked about a commercial kit to rapidly diagnose viruses. What has become of this? Obviously this is needed, plus one for just tick bites. A start would be one for known easily detected pathogens, with follow up as needed for more costly detected ones. Would chIP-on-chip technology work for this?
More please about spraying and repellents for ticks. What is the science about what works? Other than that, wear long sleeves and long pants, and check often.
Years ago, i would occasionally get a tick hiking the Marin headlands. One day i sat down next to a low bush. On that bush were hundreds of ticks. Where you find them, there are lots of them. Ladybugs the same, where they hatch it is the appearance of the inside of a beehive.
Diagnosis: About 10 yrs ago, Qiagen, the maker of DNAeasy kits, talked about a commercial kit to rapidly diagnose viruses. What has become of this? Obviously this is needed, plus one for just tick bites. A start would be one for known easily detected pathogens, with follow up as needed for more costly detected ones. Would chIP-on-chip technology work for this?
More please about spraying and repellents for ticks. What is the science about what works? Other than that, wear long sleeves and long pants, and check often.
37
Whoa. Basically a decent post but you ruined it with the start. Climate change and burning fossil fuels (to produce climate change) is not the root cause of widespread ticks. I repeat, it is not, and to think so is bad science.
Ticks have always been around, whether in the heat or the cold. However, what has changed is the rapid increase in hosts (deer are great hosts). We had less ticks in the past for the following reasons:
150+ years ago the large carnivores kept deer in check before they were virtually eliminated.
60 to 150 years ago, unrestricted or limited game laws made man the predator to control deer, until deer management programs were hatched.
The increase of urban sprawl starting 60+ years ago created suitable habitat (food and cover) without the pressure of hunting. Result.......DEER POPULATION EXPLOSION.
The ticks are now the happy ones as people don't like the nasty bugs that eat ticks (dragonfly for one).
I can't believe the NYT gave you a Times Pick. No thought must have went into the selection.
PS. the deer on the DipSea Trail in Marin County are virtually tame (and very prolific I might add). By the way I live in a house in a mixed hardwood forest (100+ acres) the ticks have increased and so have the deer.
Your last paragraph made sense.
Ticks have always been around, whether in the heat or the cold. However, what has changed is the rapid increase in hosts (deer are great hosts). We had less ticks in the past for the following reasons:
150+ years ago the large carnivores kept deer in check before they were virtually eliminated.
60 to 150 years ago, unrestricted or limited game laws made man the predator to control deer, until deer management programs were hatched.
The increase of urban sprawl starting 60+ years ago created suitable habitat (food and cover) without the pressure of hunting. Result.......DEER POPULATION EXPLOSION.
The ticks are now the happy ones as people don't like the nasty bugs that eat ticks (dragonfly for one).
I can't believe the NYT gave you a Times Pick. No thought must have went into the selection.
PS. the deer on the DipSea Trail in Marin County are virtually tame (and very prolific I might add). By the way I live in a house in a mixed hardwood forest (100+ acres) the ticks have increased and so have the deer.
Your last paragraph made sense.
tick, tick, tick,tick, is rela ted to drip, drip,drip, drip. By the time the trump administration gets through decimating our national offices of science, people will have a lot more to worry about, especially if the senate throws the dirty bomb of repeal at healthcare. so we will have disease and no care for it--but trump willl have free medical care for the rest of his life, and hopefully with a stroke-----of luck, it will be short.
10
Hmmm. Trump's been in office 7 months.
Why didn't Obama prevent this tick outbreak?
Why didn't Obama prevent this tick outbreak?
4
Lets not make this about Trump or Obama please. The causes are varied and long standing and people of various political persuasions are part of the problem. Constantly making issues like this about the politics of the moment distracts & redirects attention from why this is a growing problem and what practicable approach's we have to mitigating it.
8
Two people have died from Powasan on Cape Cod this past year.
It is not widely reported nor addressed. The State of MA won't acknowledge it. Many others have become VERY sickened by Powasan.
Powasan is scary. It only takes supposedly 15 minutes to transmit the bacteria. 15! By the time you've finished your walk, run or gardening or any outside time you may have become already infected.
It is not widely reported nor addressed. The State of MA won't acknowledge it. Many others have become VERY sickened by Powasan.
Powasan is scary. It only takes supposedly 15 minutes to transmit the bacteria. 15! By the time you've finished your walk, run or gardening or any outside time you may have become already infected.
13
As someone who was bed bound for 8 years misdiagnosed with fibromyalgia by a doctor in an area where Lyme is rampant my message is: even if you don't get a bull's eye rash, don't remember being bit but you have Lyme symptoms find a LYME LITERATE DOCTOR!!!!! I was treated in Manhattan for 2 yrs & am getting my life back FINALLY
22
I had the bullseye rashes. I had Lyme. Now I have permanent lifelong God awful headaches, a neck that aches and initiates the headaches, and fibromyalgia like conditions for life. Avoid the tick!
10
This article would have done a much greater service if basic tick prevention tips had been given--long pants and sleeves, giving your pets flea and tick preventatives, and checking yourself frequently. Ticks and tick-borne diseases are a serious problem, but the hysterical tone of this article does not help anything.
20
This is just the beginning of the spread of diseases caused by a warming planet cased by human actions.
Thank you climate change deniers!
Thank you climate change deniers!
13
Actually blame the US government (Plum Island Animal Disease Center) for experimenting on tick borne illnesses towards the end of the cold war.
Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Germ Laboratory (Check it out)
Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Germ Laboratory (Check it out)
3
Interesting, never heard that about Plum Island, although I heard a lot of weird stories about it. There is another theory about why Maryland was a hot spot for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever during the 1960s and 1970s. The theory is it was due to experiments at Fort Dietrick which was the Army's lab for biological warfare. Rocky Mountain Fever has since died off in MD but we have Lyme disease everywhere. Overrun with deer. Lack of hunting and wolves in suburbs. Just was treated for Lyme disease last month.
1
I am sick to death of the "they were here first" excuse. Deer populations are wildly out of control, but nobody wants to kill "Bambi". Overpopulation isn't good for the deer, the forests, or humans. I wonder how the same people would feel if their area was being overrun with rats? Their range has extended into areas with no natural predators (except for automobiles!) Hardly a day goes by in the Hudson Valley when I don't see at least one more deer, dead on the highway.
I am not a hunter and I love animals and nature, but it is past time to get serious about this epidemic and deal with it pragmatically. The cheapest, safest, and least cruel solution is highly-regulated culling of overpopulated areas by sharpshooters. This was done a few years back at Vassar College, and the harvested meat was donated to local charities to help feed homeless folks.
Ignoring the situation is courting a human disaster.
I am not a hunter and I love animals and nature, but it is past time to get serious about this epidemic and deal with it pragmatically. The cheapest, safest, and least cruel solution is highly-regulated culling of overpopulated areas by sharpshooters. This was done a few years back at Vassar College, and the harvested meat was donated to local charities to help feed homeless folks.
Ignoring the situation is courting a human disaster.
144
There is currently a larger deer population than when the Pilgrims landed in 1620.
8
The problem with deer is rural & urban and points to how well meaning people of different political stripes contribute to the problem. Here in Michigan any attempt to decrease the deer population is opposed by hunters (the more deer the merrier) & the animal rights types (the Bambi syndrome). Deer in check is a part of a healthy eco system, excessive deer damages everything from natural vegetation to crops & gardens. They are not cute pets or a sport and policy should be tailored accordingly.
8
That is hopeless because the problem was caused by humans eliminating predators. They have to be restored. Nothing else works.
4
Another sign of climate change.
3
Thanks Al.
Trump has pulled funding for the measure signed by President Obama to find a cure for Lyme Disease https://www.lymedisease.org/senate-passes-sweeping-cures-act-provisions-...
Aneri Pattani, would you please write an article about this research and how much progress was made before Trump pulled the plug, please?
Aneri Pattani, would you please write an article about this research and how much progress was made before Trump pulled the plug, please?
49
If the headline suggests the range for ticks has increased, then I would expect at least some graphical representation of the increase in range to accompany the story. Why no map?
8
Indeed a map is very useful and informative, something we see less of in articles today.
4
Last year I was bitten by a lone star tick which had attached itself to my right hip. I am still at a loss as to how the tick got to that area. When I go to my bird feeders located on the edge of a wooded area with shrubbery, I wear slacks, socks, shoes, gloves etc. The only thing I can envision is that the tick got on my sock and traveled up my leg until it attached to my hip. I found the tick while showering and had to work vigorously to detach it intact. For the rest of the summer I had a red welt on my hip in which the little bite marks where it attached were visible. It finally healed but to this day, I have a discolored round scar on that spot.
Fortunately I have had no illness as a result but I am even more cautious now and remove my outer clothing in the garage and have my husband check me head to toe for ticks before I enter the house and the shower.
Fortunately I have had no illness as a result but I am even more cautious now and remove my outer clothing in the garage and have my husband check me head to toe for ticks before I enter the house and the shower.
10
It's always good to have curved tweezers around. I used to get lone star ticks when they first arrived up here. They can really deliver a bite! I had a large one bite the back of my knee when I got up one morning and was sitting on "the throne." Hilarity ensued as I thought a spider must have been hiding under the seat and I tried to brush the "spider" I couldn't see off the back of my leg, and it wouldn't go away. I was finally able to see it and pluck it off with curved tweezers. Alcohol to wipe the bite mark, then apply triple antibiotic cream or gel which also contains a painkiller like lidocaine. The bite mark raises up and takes a while to fully go away. But at least you know where it bit you and can monitor the area for any rash and be on the lookout for other symptoms. When I had Lyme and babesiosis years ago, I never saw the ticks that bit me.
I was first bit by a Lone Star tick in the 90s. I went online back then and was assured it was a tick that only lived in the south (I was in the northeast), and that it really wasn't much of a disease carrier. I read that it "rarely" gave someone STAR -- southern tick associated rash -- which was a nuisance more than anything else.
Funny how "assured" knowledge changes.
I was first bit by a Lone Star tick in the 90s. I went online back then and was assured it was a tick that only lived in the south (I was in the northeast), and that it really wasn't much of a disease carrier. I read that it "rarely" gave someone STAR -- southern tick associated rash -- which was a nuisance more than anything else.
Funny how "assured" knowledge changes.
10
Women of child-bearing age should be alert to what many doctors still don't know or may scoff at: if you have a tick-borne infection, and the infection remains in your blood (that is, if you don't take antibiotics or don't take them long enough) and you get pregnant, your baby has a decent shot of being born with congenital Lyme disease. Skeptical? Mothers with HIV are at great risk for giving birth to HIV positive babies. And certainly people are now rightfully scared about Zika being conveyed from mother to baby. Infections in blood can pass from mother to baby!
Deer are hardly the only problem-- they were just the first identified "carriers." Mice, yes, but also birds, and any rodents that live in forested areas. In other words, any animal (including yr pets) that lives anywhere near you., and which spends time outside, will be exposed to ticks.
What works? Vigilance, regular use of permethrin (forget about DEET), and awareness about any change, however slight, neurologically or gastrointestinally. If you have reason to suspect a bite, go on antibiotics-- Doxycycline and Azith both. You may need to stay on the antibiotics for up to three months.
The ticks are here to stay. They're in California, Canada, almost all of Europe. Almost anywhere it rains. What they don't like is heat, dry heat. Something to consider when planning a family vacation.
Deer are hardly the only problem-- they were just the first identified "carriers." Mice, yes, but also birds, and any rodents that live in forested areas. In other words, any animal (including yr pets) that lives anywhere near you., and which spends time outside, will be exposed to ticks.
What works? Vigilance, regular use of permethrin (forget about DEET), and awareness about any change, however slight, neurologically or gastrointestinally. If you have reason to suspect a bite, go on antibiotics-- Doxycycline and Azith both. You may need to stay on the antibiotics for up to three months.
The ticks are here to stay. They're in California, Canada, almost all of Europe. Almost anywhere it rains. What they don't like is heat, dry heat. Something to consider when planning a family vacation.
10
This article fails to draw the connection between the increase in tick-borne disease and the impact of climate change. But a previous NY Times article “Ticks, Thriving in Warm Weather, Take a Ghastly Toll on New England Moose,” does draw that connection. Quote: “Climate change, as shortening winter, plays to the advantage of the tick.”
Climate change takes its toll not only on moose but also humans. Perhaps this entire family of diseases should be labeled "deniers' disease."
Climate change takes its toll not only on moose but also humans. Perhaps this entire family of diseases should be labeled "deniers' disease."
17
I don't understand why climate change believers aren't out there in droves calling for the US to stop allowing imports from China, Mexico, and India--3 massive polluters on a global scale.
And then we allow even more pollution to transport it to the US.
Do climate change believers not understand global pollution? And why didn't Obama and the Paris accord stop the shocking pollution? Haven't they seen the pics of people in Beijing wearing masks? Did Obama not see them? Do they believe that pollution only affects Beijing?
All aboard for a cause, but only on an emotional level apparently.
And then we allow even more pollution to transport it to the US.
Do climate change believers not understand global pollution? And why didn't Obama and the Paris accord stop the shocking pollution? Haven't they seen the pics of people in Beijing wearing masks? Did Obama not see them? Do they believe that pollution only affects Beijing?
All aboard for a cause, but only on an emotional level apparently.
2
Nature can be a problem.
But with Scott Pruitt heading EPA it won't take long before we'll achieve a final victory of industry over nature. After all, most of his professional life was spent making good money suing EPA on behalf of the fossil fuel industry.
But with Scott Pruitt heading EPA it won't take long before we'll achieve a final victory of industry over nature. After all, most of his professional life was spent making good money suing EPA on behalf of the fossil fuel industry.
7
In 2005 I got Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever from a tick I picked up while playing golf in North Carolina. Almost died, but for the quick and intelligent response from my doctor. After that I did a lot of research and found that 1-2% of all ticks were infected with one or another of the bugs that will mess you up. Recently renewing that research I discovered that, 12 years later, the number has risen to between 15-18%. In other words, the odds of picking up an infected tick have increased 8 to 9 times. Educate yourselves. Be careful out there.
13
I realize that the article reports that the tick increase is due to suburban encroachment on previously wild areas and a subsequent increase in deer and mice populations. One wonders however, if that is an adequate explanation? This planet itself is one huge organism and from the oxygen dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico now bedeviling shrimp fishermen, the the tick explosion in the Northeast, it has to be asked if Nature is not reacting to the enormous assault on it by man — not just in terms of climate change, but genetic manipulation of plant life, massive application of deadly home "lawn care" poisons that pollute ground water such as the innocuous-sounding “Round Up,” and so much more.
Simplistic explanations will not suffice. There is a bigger picture. Nature bats last in the lethally unbalanced game that mankind has initiated in this, our heedless post-modern terminus.
Simplistic explanations will not suffice. There is a bigger picture. Nature bats last in the lethally unbalanced game that mankind has initiated in this, our heedless post-modern terminus.
14
Gaia will survive. Mankind may not.
4
Although climate could certainly be a factor, it strikes me as superstitious to blame chemicals, especially when deet-containing chemicals can be helpful in prevention. There's zero evidence that Round up or lawn fertilizer is responsible for the proliferation of ticks.
1
FYI the Lyme spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, is known to thrive best in a micro-aerobic (low oxygen) environment. This appears to be one reason why regular hyperbaric oxygen treatment, even low-level HBO, can help push the spirochetes into cyst form (remission). Could it be that the 30 % to 50% reductions in environmental oxygen levels are part of what's driving the explosion of tick-borne diseases?
Yes, there's a much bigger picture that we can't see: the effects mankind's "lethally unbalanced game". Nice post, Michael Hoffman.
Yes, there's a much bigger picture that we can't see: the effects mankind's "lethally unbalanced game". Nice post, Michael Hoffman.
Where are our public health officials and legislators? There are fewer than an average of 10 equine encephalitis cases NATIONWIDE each year, But Massachusetts state government funds a large coordinated effort for mosquitoes control. For tick control - not even a web page. http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/agr/pesticides/mosquito/
19
The State of MA recently stopped funding the testing of ticks on Cape Cod, another ground zero for tick infections. Makes you wonder, why?
6
It is interesting that so many politicians who deny climate change seem to care very little for the resulting damage to our eco-system and the destruction of populated islands in the Pacific. Do they really need the tic-related death of their child or grandchild to admit that we have a problem? Or will they blame the tragedy on environmentalists who protect our natural habitats?
13
Are mosquitoes and the diseases they carry next in line? Because climate change is real, and ticks are just one of many tiny little beasties that carry even tinier little beasties that wreck havoc on very large populations. Ignoring the reality of climate change won't make them go away.
14
This spring saw a huge increase in ticks in my suburban backyard, together with a surge in the rodent population. All related to a bumper acorn crop last year, I guess.
Since the microscopic larval forms of the ticks also infect, just a routine 'tick check' isn't going to do the job because you can't see them, and the old (Lyme) rule that a tick had to be imbedded for hours, making extraction pretty safe, does not apply to the other diseases.
One of my neighbors, who rarely walks anywhere, gets Lymed frequently. It's obviously the mice coming into the house....
Since the microscopic larval forms of the ticks also infect, just a routine 'tick check' isn't going to do the job because you can't see them, and the old (Lyme) rule that a tick had to be imbedded for hours, making extraction pretty safe, does not apply to the other diseases.
One of my neighbors, who rarely walks anywhere, gets Lymed frequently. It's obviously the mice coming into the house....
4
Climate change has played a part in this. Longer, warmer springs and summers are having an impact.
13
This is a epidemic here on Long Island where I live. I just spent three days in the hospital having been diagnosed with Anaplasmosis, a bacterium from the black legged tick. Three people were in the emergency room with me, with the same thing.
It is warmer, slightly, in the Winter now, but when I was a kid there were no deer around. Now, there are herds of them everywhere. Yes, ticks attach to all wild animals, but I had the opportunity to see a deer walk closely past my house window and observed his ears had hundreds of ticks attached. They are clearly a major breading ground for them. And, deer are a hazard to driving.
Without antibiotics I would have had an uncertain outcome. I couldn't eat or drink and my skin was turning yellow. I installed a deer fence around my yard but still see the deer on the other side in my neighbors yards.
It is warmer, slightly, in the Winter now, but when I was a kid there were no deer around. Now, there are herds of them everywhere. Yes, ticks attach to all wild animals, but I had the opportunity to see a deer walk closely past my house window and observed his ears had hundreds of ticks attached. They are clearly a major breading ground for them. And, deer are a hazard to driving.
Without antibiotics I would have had an uncertain outcome. I couldn't eat or drink and my skin was turning yellow. I installed a deer fence around my yard but still see the deer on the other side in my neighbors yards.
27
They are clearly a major breading ground for them. And, deer are a hazard to driving."----so you are suggesting that we just KILL EVERYTHING?
"Without antibiotics I would have had an uncertain outcome. ..."
If the whiny Mitch in the senate gets his way today, the next time YOU might be dead.
"Without antibiotics I would have had an uncertain outcome. ..."
If the whiny Mitch in the senate gets his way today, the next time YOU might be dead.
2
Well, yes, here on Long Island, all the deer should be eradicated. I said it, sounds cruel but so are blood sucking deadly parasites.
I would say the same for rattle snakes, grizzly bears and any wild animal that is a legitimate health threat to a suburban human population. There is a huge health care cost to society as well.
The alternative is spraying with pesticides every year for ticks so the deer tick factories (deer) can keep producing more ticks? A counterproductive dangerous environmentally damaging practice. Deer are cute, but as I said in my original comment, I spent three miserable days in the hospital, are they really worth having around? NO. And, trust me, I felt differently before my illness.
As for "Mitch," I do completely agree with you, he is certainly a deadly menace as well.
I would say the same for rattle snakes, grizzly bears and any wild animal that is a legitimate health threat to a suburban human population. There is a huge health care cost to society as well.
The alternative is spraying with pesticides every year for ticks so the deer tick factories (deer) can keep producing more ticks? A counterproductive dangerous environmentally damaging practice. Deer are cute, but as I said in my original comment, I spent three miserable days in the hospital, are they really worth having around? NO. And, trust me, I felt differently before my illness.
As for "Mitch," I do completely agree with you, he is certainly a deadly menace as well.
5
Lyme disease or worse has become an epidemic in the northeastern United States. Yet, pharma and the politicians are not pulling their weight to get a vaccine developed. It will happen only one their own gets Lyme disease or the like. Then, the sooner the better!
17
Repeat from a previous reply, but here it is again.
There is a LYME vaccine for humans (and clinically effective), but back in the late 90's/early 200s, the anti-vaxxer movement reported so many adverse events, GlaxoSmithKline took it off the market. Another cautionary tale of the anti-vaxxer movement.
Fun fact: ANYONE can report adverse events to vaccines to a government surveillance system called "Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System" and there is no vetting involved.
There is a LYME vaccine for humans (and clinically effective), but back in the late 90's/early 200s, the anti-vaxxer movement reported so many adverse events, GlaxoSmithKline took it off the market. Another cautionary tale of the anti-vaxxer movement.
Fun fact: ANYONE can report adverse events to vaccines to a government surveillance system called "Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System" and there is no vetting involved.
2
Note to Donald Trump: More evidence of what fossil-fuel-driven global warming is bringing to "your" people.
17
In the nineties, I worked one summer for the Westchester County Parks Service. It was then that I was educated on ticks. I learned how to dress when out in the woods: long pants, pant legs tucked into socks, long shirt and hair tied back. I added a baseball cap. I learned that ticks cannot fly or jump but rather wait on tall grasses and leaves to climb onto a person and that ticks prefer shade to direct sunlight. I was taught how to do a tick check and how to identify the signature bulls-eye rash.
Today, ticks are more prevalent than ever and yet there is less tick education. This is particularly troubling because many vulnerable populations work in landscaping and in the outdoors. As a critical health and safety issue, it is incumbent on the federal and state governments to educate people on tick safety.
Public service announcements in diverse languages would increase the likelihood of tick prevention and treatment before harm ensues.
But if the PSAs do not occur, then remember this - Tuck and cover ... it may not be the Cold War but it is Mother Nature's reminder that its not always the biggest predators that wreak the most havoc.
Today, ticks are more prevalent than ever and yet there is less tick education. This is particularly troubling because many vulnerable populations work in landscaping and in the outdoors. As a critical health and safety issue, it is incumbent on the federal and state governments to educate people on tick safety.
Public service announcements in diverse languages would increase the likelihood of tick prevention and treatment before harm ensues.
But if the PSAs do not occur, then remember this - Tuck and cover ... it may not be the Cold War but it is Mother Nature's reminder that its not always the biggest predators that wreak the most havoc.
62
This article is contradictory: "With the expansion of the suburbs and a push to conserve wooded areas, deer and mice populations are thriving." This makes ABSOLUTELY no sense. If suburbs are expanding, then wooded areas are depleting. This is fear mongering, folks. Ticks are not spreading, if anything, they are stuck in ever shrinking forested environments. Don't believe the hype. Yes, there are ticks. No, there aren't tons more with more threat than ever before. Complete garbage!
2
Loren, you don't know what you are talking about. Yes, there ARE more ticks than before. We never used to have ticks in New Hampshire. Now it is impossible to walk across a field in May or June without getting at least a few on you. When I go on some of my favorite woods road walks with my dogs I frequently come home with 30 or 40 ticks. You might not believe in the effects of global warming, but they are real.
72
Loren, there are more deer now in the US than when Columbus landed. Driving up I-95, there were deer right next to the highway.
8
The edges of woods are prime areas for ticks - with tall grass and bushes just the perfect height for grabbing a ride. They also flourish on lawns, but ( i find) if the grass is very short - as on a golf fairway - it is only shoes and socks that are immersed in tick territory. That guy in the picture is using a piece of cloth to gather ticks: a human walking through is soing the same, only with clothing ,skin and hair.
4
Yo, people---you can be in tick country & avoid bites very easily by simply doing a tick check EVERY time you come indoors. Don't be afraid---just be sensible & attentive. Ticks & other critters just do what they do. Let's not resort to blanketing the world with pesticide. Let's instead attend to global warming & other human effects on nature that are creating imbalance in the first place.
42
Harleymom's advice is sensible. Living with nature involves tradeoffs. It's important to account for all of them, or the Tragedy of the Commons ensues.
One can, however, be proactive against tick bites without blanketing the world with pesticide. One can blanket one's clothing with pyrethroids (e.g. Permethrin) instead. These are synthetic pesticides derived from pyrethrum, naturally found in chrysanthemums. They've been shown to be highly effective against Ixodes ticks, the principle lyme-disease vector.
There have been reports of pyrethroid human toxicity, but the risks appear far lower than those from tick-born diseases. And pyrethoids applied to your clothing are dangerous only to insects, ticks and other arthropods that come in contact with your clothes.
One can, however, be proactive against tick bites without blanketing the world with pesticide. One can blanket one's clothing with pyrethroids (e.g. Permethrin) instead. These are synthetic pesticides derived from pyrethrum, naturally found in chrysanthemums. They've been shown to be highly effective against Ixodes ticks, the principle lyme-disease vector.
There have been reports of pyrethroid human toxicity, but the risks appear far lower than those from tick-born diseases. And pyrethoids applied to your clothing are dangerous only to insects, ticks and other arthropods that come in contact with your clothes.
2
I have had a tick borne disease for years and it causes malaria-type symptoms two or three times a year. Very unpleasant but manageable. My daughter-in-law has Lyme and it has been devasting both mentally and physically even causing her to have to stop teaching as she couldn't remember lessons even during class. She is on medical disability as a result of Lyme. This is a terrible disease and many doctors still claim that Lyme does not exist in the state of Alabama...nonsense...ask anyone and they have a relative or friend that has Lyme or something similar. A major effort to find an inoculation against these types of ailments is needed right now.
24
While hiking upstate NY by the Pepacton reservoir our group of 6 picked up 3-4 ticks each. I'm 47 and have hiked this area since I was a kid. I've never picked up a tick in all that time until this year. Seems we need to aggressively address this threat before it reaches an epidemic.
12
Interesting, I spent a lot of time in that area of NYS as a boy. Never had ticks. A few years ago, deer were a tremendous pest, but coyote populations have increased recently and the deer population has actually declined in the last couple of years. Hopefully, tick populations will decline as well.
2
Once a tick bites you is it possible to then drop off or is it stuck there forever?
1
From what I have read, they may feed from a host and drop off at different points in their life cycle to lay eggs or find another host. They can be removed and are not stuck on a host permanently. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has a great deal of information on the topic readily available online.
5
Don't wait for it to fall off, they can stay on for days. This product works great to get the ticks off my dog: https://www.tickedoff.com/
1
This kind of article shallow in information makes me wonder what the agenda is in this type of reporting. HELLO! It's a new era in online information sharing!! Where is a high-res PDF of the tick I-D care, with specifics on medications. We don't need a hospital to send us a free "kit". Just give details and photo information, and we can take care of ourselves, thank you very much.
3
Unfortunately many people are bitten by ticks and don't know it. Many of the tick borne diseases don't present with any one tell tale sign (such as the classic Lyme rash) but rather fever, headache, and malaise - consistent with the entire spectrum of known infectious diseases including serious bacterial infections. As the article points out the ticks are migrating and local physicians are seeing manifestations of diseases they have never seen before. Diagnostic blood testing is expensive not available with a short turn around time and even then not always reliable. The good news is most of the diseases are treatable with antibiotics if caught early. The bad news is the Trump administration is not interested in science and the current budget proposal cuts 1.2 billion dollars or 20% of the total budget from the C,D.C. - a level the outgoing director has called "unsafe at any level of enactment". M.D. in rural NH
8
A deer tick no larger than a pinhead can transmit Lyme disease. The victim won't know she's been bitten until the first symptoms appear; often, but not always, a bullseye rash around the bite.
1
Is this the proverbial canary? Have we so altered our planet that tick bites, which used to be annoying, are life-changing, and possibly life-threatening? Alpha-gal is difficult to diagnose and there is no cure. It has caused me to become mostly vegan, which is good for me and good for the environment, but one must wonder what insect will carry the next dangerous disease.
27
I have definitely noticed the increased numbers of ticks, especially after the warm winter. It truly forces you to re-think your outdoor activities and to protect yourself at all times. It is hard not to become paranoid when incidental contact with brush and foliage represents an opportunity to be introduced to a parasite that carries a potentially life altering disease. Something as simple as sitting in the grass is now off-limits.
11
A study has shown that incidence of tick diseases correlated even more directly with areas of fox decline than deer increase. This may come as no surprise, as the main diet of foxes is mice, the primary host for tick development. Fox populations have been decreasing across the northeast and midwest, mainly because of coyotes and mange. While foxes are small rodent specialists, coyotes are more generalists. They won't specifically target mice like foxes do. Moreover, coyotes will pack hunt foxes and kill them to steal their territory. Foxes are also beset by sarcoptic mange, the hellish itching of which leaves them bald, unable to sleep or hunt, unable to survive winter. (If you ever see a balding fox, contact your local wildlife center or google search instructions for treatment in situ.)
Foxes are nature's own pest control. No chemicals needed. Foxes are quite flexible about habitat and proximity of humans, and unlike coyotes, foxes pose no threat to your cat or dog. Find out if your state's trapping limits are too high to keep up a sustainable fox population. It's possible fox reintroduction should be considered in some areas!
Foxes are nature's own pest control. No chemicals needed. Foxes are quite flexible about habitat and proximity of humans, and unlike coyotes, foxes pose no threat to your cat or dog. Find out if your state's trapping limits are too high to keep up a sustainable fox population. It's possible fox reintroduction should be considered in some areas!
201
Thank you for an informative post. We have a fox who hunts in our neighborhood and we've seen her "harvest" a number of rodents. They are brilliant hunters. The number of mice wintering over in our home has gone down substantially since the fox has been patrolling the neighborhood. Good news given the prevalence of tick borne disease in the area.
Another animal who does a great job of controlling ticks is the opossum. They should be encouraged to move in to tick ridden areas. It's amazing how beautiful they start to look once you realize how helpful they are to an environment that's out of balance.
Another animal who does a great job of controlling ticks is the opossum. They should be encouraged to move in to tick ridden areas. It's amazing how beautiful they start to look once you realize how helpful they are to an environment that's out of balance.
66
Fascinating. Global warming definitely has moved the tick population north. I live next to a suburban forest with lots of possums, foxes and bats, so the insect population is pretty well controlled (as is the outdoor cat population -- dessert for foxes!) Our county has been shooting deer for several years. Unpleasant but necessary.
7
Aha! Perhaps that is why, living about an hour north of Philadelphia, I havent seen a tick in weeks. I was getting them on me pretty regularly back in May and June - just from walking on roads, not going into the forest. And it was pretty bad, just by walking outside, I would have one on my leg or in my hair. And I have seen plenty of deer. There are foxes around here and some bats. Bats eat ticks. People who live in rural areas should look into getting bat houses. I don't have one, so Im not sure where the bats are coming from, but reduced ticks!
3
The science behind diagnosis of tick-borne diseases seems to be lacking. Researchers and doctors still can't agree on how to treat Lyme Disease. Many people go undiagnosed and many walk around with a chronic Lyme that can't be treated because researchers can't figure out how to target the spirochete bacteria in all its stages. Some docs are bombarding patients who have chronic Lyme with antibiotics for years on end. The NIH says this is not effective. Other doctors are trying experimental alternative approaches. Lyme is a very debilitating disease and its treatment should be a national priority.
94
PLease include in this article effects on the world other than the human world -
the proliferation of ticks in Maine, due to warm temperatures, are causing massive declines in the Moose population. They die covered in bloodsucking ticks, after months of wasting away. A truely horrible sight.
the proliferation of ticks in Maine, due to warm temperatures, are causing massive declines in the Moose population. They die covered in bloodsucking ticks, after months of wasting away. A truely horrible sight.
161
Wonder if there are plans to find ways to apply topical tick prevention (like Advantage for dogs) to the moose populations in Maine. I know that there are "tick tubes" available that you can purchase or you can make yourself (cotton balls or dryer lint sprayed with permethrin, stuffed into toilet paper tubes and set around your property so that mice collect the stuffing for their nests and then the ticks leave them--getting those flea and tick collars on the mice is too difficult).
4
Excellent point, Grace !
1
Need vaccines for all of these new tick-borne diseases, repellents for ticks and pesticides that target ticks.
19
I have been teaching a summer class in rural coastal Maine for 16 years. In the early years we had an end-of-class picnic at a pristine swimming lake. A couple of students maybe got a tick. A few years later, I counted 18 ticks on my pants at the end of the day. No more picnics. Today, I don't even walk on a trail in the forest next to the lab because of the ticks. I doubt that this problem is mentioned by real estate agents wanting to sell you a house in the scenic Maine woods.
101
I moved to southern Maine a few years ago, and gorgeous as this area is I basically avoid all outdoors activities on account of the insects.
13
Time for a vaccine.
67
There;s one for dogs, but only for Lymes.
3
There is a vaccine for humans (and clinically effective), but back in the late 90's/early 200s, the anti-vaxxer movement reported so many adverse events, GlaxoSmithKline took it off the market. Another cautionary tale of the anti-vaxxer movement.
Fun fact: ANYONE can report adverse events to vaccines to a government surveillance system called "Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System" and there is no vetting involved.
Fun fact: ANYONE can report adverse events to vaccines to a government surveillance system called "Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System" and there is no vetting involved.
45
To be clear, I'm referring only to Lyme vaccine for humans. I am unsure of other tick-borne illnesses and vaccine status
I remember the days when you could lie in the grass for hours gazing at the clouds...or take a nap in the woods, without getting ticks. Those days are gone along with the thousands of birds that kept the ticks at bay. Will spraying pesticide really help in the long run or will it simply destroy the tick's natural predators?
Will we learn from this?
Will we learn from this?
136
I fear that it will backfire. I considered Guinea heans but they would drive even me crazy. Perhaps various Parks department could use flocks of guineas, the way some areas use goats to control overgrowth, to eat up ticks.
19
@ Ravenna I'm interested to learn more about the ways in which spraying for ticks affects their natural predators. Would you please provide links to the information you have found?
2
Wouldn't chickens do as well as guineas? Just asking.
And then tolerate a few local foxes, even if they nab the occasional hen? Hey, that sounds like a viable eco-system.
And then tolerate a few local foxes, even if they nab the occasional hen? Hey, that sounds like a viable eco-system.
1
Wow. Welvome to the real world Southampton. It's a tick, not The Plague. More people are killed by mosquitoes on this planet than from any other insect or animal. Do Southamptomites go into full drama meltdown when they see a mosquito?
7
Ted: You seem to be undervaluing the damage that a tick bite can cause. It can be deadly, or it can, as with long-term Lyme Disease, lead to neurological and/or organ damage. More ticks means more people (and animals) are likely to present with tick-born illnesses. When a study notes a 26-fold increase in babesiosis cases over a 14-year period or 380 new diagnoses of alpha-gal allergy over 7, that's significant. While these illnesses may not spread in the same way a plague or malaria do (through body fluids), they are, nonetheless, concerning. My husband has suffered from both Lyme and alpha-gal allergy and, to him, it's not "dramatic meltdown" to decide to avoid the woods during tick season; it's a logical response to avoid another disease-carrying bite like the one that caused him to have an anaphylactic reaction to red meat or a lovely bulls-eye rash that could have developed into something much worse.
38
Until you've had Lyme Disease, please don't mock anyone complaining about it. i spent two weeks in Maine and Massachusetts in June as I do almost every year. This year I got bit, but didn't know it. Four weeks later, after being diagnosed with several afflictions and a mystery illness - I live in Arizona - I finally suggested ticks. And yes, I have it. Even in a milder form, it has been very debilitating, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
43
Likely mosquitoes would be cause for concern in Southampton were species that carry malaria, dengue fever, or the Zika virus present.
Speaking of which, take note Zika has been cause for quite a bit of concern in the southern states where it is starting to spread.
Speaking of which, take note Zika has been cause for quite a bit of concern in the southern states where it is starting to spread.
12
I've lived near woods for 30 plus years and have had Lyme several times. This has not debilitated me- everyone in my area has had Lyme. However, two years ago I self-diagnosed my alpha-gal syndrome (confirmed by an allergist.) from Lone Star larvae bites. This is a life-changer. Animal products lurk in so many foods and many afflicted can't even touch dairy-certain cheeses set it off for me. Fortunately I was semi-veg before this happened. It took two incidents of "inexplicable" hives before I realized my summer rash was not chiggers or-believe it or not "chicken pox" as the PA said. Please, readers, this is not an alarmist article-anaphylaxis can kill.
91
A neighbor of mine in Copake, NY in Columbia County went to the local Emergency Care facility with flu-like symptoms. He was sent home with the suggestion to rest and take in a lot of fluids. Instead, he went off to a hospital in Sharon, Ct. He tested positive for 3 tick-borne illnesses. Most likely, from one tick bite. He's still recovering.
67
This problem could be ameliorated considerably by reducing the deer population to what used to be 'normal' levels. We are suffering a plague of deer caused by silly hunting regulations that stress killing only bucks in order to conserve the breeding stock. This policy has been in place since the 30's & has led to the current overpopulation of deer. Their struggle for food, which has devastated the forest understory, has moved them into the suburbs. The DEC should be sued by everyone who has Lyme or any of the other tick - borne diseases. That might get some action in an agency otherwise beholden to the hunting lobby.
92
The worst problems ARE in the suburbs; there is bow hunting allowed in my county (Westchester, NY) with permission on private property, I don;t think it is allowed in any parks. The outcry against this is monumental, but it is the most efficient solution. They decimate young trees in the would leaving only trash invaders taking over, and end up killed in large numbers by running in front of vehicles on all the roadways.
I assume they do help increase the tick population. I also feel strongly that climate change is favorable to them: a little more heat, milder winters over all, lots of moisture - tick heaven. ( It will be termite heaven as well but that's another problem).
I assume they do help increase the tick population. I also feel strongly that climate change is favorable to them: a little more heat, milder winters over all, lots of moisture - tick heaven. ( It will be termite heaven as well but that's another problem).
9
Even though it is labeled "Deer Tick"--they are most commonly carried by the white footed mouse
6
Mice and Chimunks are major parts of the life cycle. Coyotes are your friends as are Foxes. Foxes are better at keeping down the population of the little critters. I put out dog toys. The Foxes cannot get enough of them.
11