Are Ticks Dangerous? Somerset KY
By pest expert Matthew Hess
As an adult, you may remember a childhood filled with frolicking through the meadows, forests, and hills of your neighborhood without a care in the world. Your parents didn’t always know where you were, but they weren’t too worried as long as you made it back for supper. At the end of the day, you or your parents might have found a tick or two on you or your siblings, but there was little concern about disease.
Although Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and other tick-borne diseases have been around for decades upon decades, it was a scarce tale to hear of someone who had contracted them. Today, those stories happen much more often and much closer to home. This may warrant the treatment of more and more lawns to help prevent spread during the warmer months.
The most recent tick-borne disease that has many people worried is transmitted by the lone star tick. Alpha-gal Syndrome (AGS) was discovered in 2007 by Dr. Thomas Plats-Mills at the University of Virginia. This disease causes its host to exhibit an allergic reaction to alpha-gal, a sugar found in many animal cells and in the cancer drug cetuximab. You may know someone who has recently fallen victim to this relatively new tick-borne disease. Such a person may no longer be able to tolerate many red meats. Since the Lone Star tick is the most common tick to bite people, Alpha-gal Syndrome is becoming a more serious disease that more people will be hearing of in the coming years.
Where Do Ticks Live?
Ticks can be found throughout the United States within forests, grasslands, meadows, and more. They lie in wait for humans or animals to brush against the tips of low-lying vegetation such as shrubs and grass. Usually, this occurs in areas where frequent activity by the potential host is observed. For instance, trails and pathways used by humans or animals make a perfect target zone. In these usually wooded or grassy areas, ticks climb onto the vegetation and cling with their hind legs until a host brushes by. When this occurs, the tick lets go of the vegetation with its hind legs as it attaches to the host with its front legs.
Most ticks prefer wooded, shaded areas where they can easily attach to their host as they brush against low-lying shrubs, weeds, and grasses.
Ticks attach to low lying plants with their hind legs and await a host to brush against them and then attach to the host with their front legs.
How Can I Avoid Being Bitten By A Tick?
Personal tick repellant sprays are readily available over-the-counter. These can be applied before and during any outdoor activity where it is suspected ticks could be present. Look for the active ingredient DEET at 20% to 30% for the skin. For clothing and shoes, a pyrethrin insecticide will work. Be sure to shower well at the end of the day to remove all insecticides from the body. Wash any treated clothing separately from untreated clothing. Once washed, run a clean cycle on the washing machine before washing any other clothes. These steps help reduce the exposure to insecticides.
Regular inspections throughout the day, every 2-3 hours, and during or after a shower at the end of the day can help reduce the chances of a tick becoming attached or staying attached very long. If there are multiple people, you may check each other (especially children). Wearing light-colored clothing can help spot ticks throughout the day. Ticks are dark and will contrast against lighter colored clothes and shoes. Additionally, long sleeve shirts and long pants tucked inside your socks should be a priority if in a heavily infested area or an area where it is known that disease carrying ticks are present.
While hiking, biking, or other similar adventure, stay on trails and as close to the center as possible. Ticks prefer tall grasses and foliage that will be found at the edges of trails or beyond the trails.
Wearing long pants, long sleeved shirts, and spraying approved tick repellants are good ways to avoid getting ticks when outdoors.
What Should I Do If Bitten By A Tick?
If you’re working in or enjoying the outdoors and later find a tick on your person, the first step is to quickly remove and kill the tick if it has not yet attached to the skin. Ticks do not transmit disease until they have been attached to and fed from the host for several hours. Removing unattached ticks and eliminating them reduces this risk.
If the tick is already attached, PLEASE GET A QUALITY PICTURE OF THE TICK FIRST, and then gently grasp the tick with appropriate tweezers as close to the skin as you can. Once firmly grasped, gently pull the tick straight out (do not twist, jerk or angle the tweezers). Once the tick is removed, SNAP ANOTHER PICTURE IF POSSIBLE, then kill it (flush down the toilet or other drain). Promptly wash your hands and thoroughly disinfect the bite area applying topical antiseptic to the bite area.
If you believe the tick has been attached for more than a few hours, you should monitor the bite site (and the person). If any rash that resembles a bullseye or any other rash on the body occurs, or any illness or fever should occur, consult a doctor right away. Supply the doctor with THE PHOTOGRAPHS PREVIOUSLY TAKEN and explain where the tick was attached and approximately how long. If caught early, many tick-borne illnesses and diseases can be successfully treated.
Grab the tick firmly close to the mouthparts (closest to the host’s skin) to avoid pulling the body away from the mouthparts, leaving them in the host to cause infection.
When removing a tick from its host, pull straight back from the tick with a firm, steady motion and do not twist or angle the tick removal tool being used.
What Do Ticks Look Like and What Diseases Do They Transmit?
The primary ticks associated with humans are hard-bodied ticks. These ticks have a hard shield just behind the mouthparts (often wrongly referred to as the head). When unfed, these ticks are shaped like a flat seed. Adults are usually the size of an apple seed or pencil eraser and do not have wings, cannot fly, and cannot jump. Tick larvae are about the size of a grain of sand and nymphs are roughly the size of a sesame seed or poppy seed.
Ticks go through four life stages beginning as an egg. After the egg hatches, tiny, six-legged larvae emerge (also known as seed ticks). These tiny seed ticks must find and feed on a host. Once fed, the larvae develop into eight-legged nymphs. These nymphs will soon find a host, feed, and finally develop into an adult, completing the life cycle.
There are several different types of ticks in the Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia areas. Of these, several are known to transmit diseases to humans.
When unfed, ticks are flat and shaped like an apple seed. When fully engorged, they are oval, plump, and shaped more like a raisin.
American Dog Tick
The American Dog Tick, also known as the Wood Tick, is probably the most common tick encountered by humans. This tick gets its name from the fact that it is only found in North America and the adults prefer to feed on dogs. The larvae and nymphs feed on smaller warm-blooded animals like birds, mice, and rats.
The American Dog tick is brown with gray markings. The males have lines on their backs and the female has a grayish shield just behind the mouthparts. Females range in size from 3/16 of an inch unfed to 5/8 of an inch when fully engorged. Males do not get much bigger when fully fed. This species is found throughout the United States except the Rocky Mountains region.
American Dog Ticks may transmit several bacteria and diseases and are the primary vector of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF), caused by the bacteria Rickettsia rickettsia. In addition to RMSF, the American Dog Tick are known to transmit tuleremia, which is caused by the bacterium Fracisella tularensis, and tick paralysis.
The female American Dog Tick sports a gray-colored shield just behind the mouthparts.
Male American Dog Tick do not have a gray shield and instead have jagged gray lines extending down their backs.
Brown Dog Tick
Rhipipicephalus sanguineus, the Brown Dog Tick, is found all across the world. Although they prefer dogs as a host, they will feed on a variety of other animals. This tick has a unique ability not found in other tick species. Brown Dog Ticks can complete their entire life cycle both indoors and outdoors. Other ticks cannot complete their life cycle indoors. Because of this unique ability, the Brown Dog Tick can infest residences and kennels, but is rarely found outside areas where human and canine activity are normal.
Brown Dog Ticks appear to rely heavily on their preferred host and seemingly require dogs in order to establish and maintain large infestations and populations. For this reason, it is important to keep dogs treated against ticks, especially those dogs that are often kenneled or otherwise interact or are regularly around other dogs for extended periods. It is entirely possible to find an infestation of Brown Dog Ticks in a home. Finding one tick inside should prompt the homeowner (or kennel owner) to contact a pest control professional like Four Seasons Pest Solutions, to perform a thorough inspection and apply proper treatment protocol if warranted. This tick can survive as an adult for up to 18 months without feeding and may be present year-round. Nymphs may go as long as 9 months without a blood meal and can also be found yearround.
Adults and nymphs Rhipipicephalus sanguineus have four pairs of legs and look similar except that adults are larger than nymphs. The body size of the nymph is 1.14mm to 1.30mm long and the adult is 2.28mm to 3.18mm long. Females can increase in body size a hundred-fold during the feeding process, and reach the size of an average raisin. Both nymphs and adults are reddish-brown with an elongated body shape and have no distinguishable markings on the back. Eggs are spherical and dark brown. The larvae have only three pair of legs and are approximately 0.54mm long.
Brown Dog Ticks may transmit bacterium that can cause diseases in dogs. Among those are canine ehrlichiosis and babesiosis. In humans, the Brown Dog Tick is capable of transmitting Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in areas such as Arizona, California, and Mexico, but have rarely been known to do so outside those areas.
Brown Dog Ticks have no distinguishing features on their backs, which in KY, TN, and VA, may serve as a distinguishing feature.
Deer Tick
Ixodes scapularis, commonly known as the deer tick (or black-legged tick) are found where white-tailed deer populations are present. This includes predominately within deciduous forests and within grasslands and shrubs bordering the edges of forests from the Midwest United States to the Eastern Coast, north to south. The female deer tick has a reddish-brown body with a black shield on her back and black legs. Males do not feed on humans.
Deer ticks can live to around 2 years old and begin life in the spring after the adult female has laid her eggs. In the last weeks of spring as summer emerges, so do the larvae. The female larvae feed on small animals or birds during the summer and then enter a dormant stage during the winter. When their second spring comes around, they will feed once more before entering the nymph stage. By fall, the nymphs will have reached adulthood and will find larger hosts like bear, deer, and moose. Once an female has engorged herself feeding, she will await the following spring to lay her eggs and die.
Ixodes scapularis are known to transmit several diseases. Among them are Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Bartonellosis, Borrelia miyamotoi, Deer tick Virus, Lyme disease, and Mycoplasmosis. Of these, Lyme Disease is the most recognized and dangerous to humans. Those who spend time within forests, especially where white-tail deer are present, should always check themselves (or have someone else check them) for ticks.
The engorged Black Legged tick and an unfed Black Legged tick.
Lone Star Tick
Of all the ticks present in KY, TN, and VA, perhaps the Lone Star Tick is the most recognizeable. Amblyomma Americanum, also known as the turkey tick and water tick, is native to the eastern United States from west central Texas to northern Misouri and east from the tip of Maine to the tip of Florida. They derive their name from the single white spot located on the female’s back. Fenales grow to ¼ inch long when unfed to ½ inch long when fully engorged. Males are smaller and do not have the white spot.
Lone Star Ticks are not only the most recognizeable tick, but also the most likely to bite a human within the eastern and southern United States. Their bites can result in a circular rash and potentially transmit a variety of diseases. It is imperative that the Lone Star Tick be removed from the body as quickly as possible.
Lone Stars cannot take the sunlight for extended periods and will mostly be found in shaded areas that contain both small animals for the larvae and large animals for the nymphs and adults. This three-stage tick is capable of attacking humans in the larval, nymph, and adult stage. The larval stage are called seed ticks.
This tick is a vector of several dangerous diseases including Southern Tick Associated Rash Illness (STARI), Tularemia, Heartland Virus, Bourbon Virus, and the most recent discovery, Alpha-Gal Syndrome. It is important to properly remove the Lone Star Tick from the body without breaking off the mouthparts, resulting in potential secondary infections.
The female Lone Star Tick can be easily distinguished by the single white dot on the back.
Should I Really Be That Concerned About Ticks?
Yes. Ticks are actually the second most common vector of human diseases after mosquitoes. No known vaccines against tick-borne diseases are currently available to the public. Furthermore, ticks are very efficient carriers of disease simply due to their ability to firmly attach to the host, stay attached for long periods, and remain unnoticed when feeding. During the several-day feeding periods, ticks may transmit several pathogens. These include bacteria, nematodes, protozoa, rickettsiae, spirochetes, toxins, and several viruses that can cause disease. Among these diseases are included Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Southern Tick Associated Rash Illness, Alpha-Gal Syndrome, and more. The potential of contracting these diseases alone should warrant the attention and concern of the dangers of being bitten by a tick.
