Ticks are worldwide. We all need to learn more about them.

17-year-old dies of Lyme carditis, a toddler falls into a coma after a tick bite another mother recalls “He loved to dance,” after losing her one-year-old to Lyme disease.

Clearly, ticks and their diseases are things we all need to learn more about, to protect ourselves and our children.

So, what are ticks exactly, anyway?

Ticks are arachnids, related to spiders. Unlike insects, which have three body segments and six legs, ticks have one body segment and eight legs. Over the millennia, ticks have perfected living in every climate, on every continent..

There are two families of ticks found in the United States: hard ticks (Ixodidae) and soft ticks (Argasidae). Of the 900+ species of ticks found throughout the world, only a handful are known to bite and transmit disease to humans.

Both hard and soft ticks require a blood meal at each of their three life stages (larvae, nymph, adult.) They have mastered many techniques allowing them to go undetected. For example, their saliva helps numb the site of the bite so you don’t feel them.

I recently spoke with Thomas Mather, Ph.D, of the University of Rhode Island’s Center for Vector-Borne Disease and director of the TickEncounter Resource Center. He has studied ticks since 1983 and is known as “The Tick Guy.” [1]

Here’s what I learned:

Tick season is year-round

Ticks are built to survive in nearly every environment and climate condition. Whether it is freezing cold, drenching rain, or sweltering heat, ticks keep on ticking. Except in areas where temperatures are extremely low or high, ticks will be active 365 days per year.

Tick activity slows when temperatures begin to drop below 45 ºF (6-7 ºC). But if temperatures are even 1º above freezing (32 ºF/0 ºC), ticks will be active. In winter, ticks can hibernate below leaf litter, which insulates them from the cold.

Ticks have a much harder time surviving low humidity. This is because ticks don’t drink water and require humidity (preferably above 85%) to absorb moisture. [2]

Dr. Mather says it’s a misconception that tick season end in the Fall. “People think they no longer need protection because they perceive ticks die off when temperatures begin to drop. Ticks are less active in the winter months, but in fact, adult ticks are most active in the Fall.”

Larval-stage ticks are also active in August and September, but people don’t see them, Mather warns. Come springtime, the dangerous poppy seed size nymphal ticks are on the move. Thus, Mather encourages people to use tick bite prevention methods year round.

More at this link: https://www.lymedisease.org/ticks-worldwide/

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Many Blessings,
CrystalRiver