With summertime drawing people outside more and more, the chances of getting bit by ticks become increasingly prevalent, which means the risk of Lyme disease increases.
As tick season hits once again, KCBS Radio’s Liz Saint John spoke with Thomas Mather, a public health entomologist at the University of Rhode Island, about what we should be on the lookout for when it comes to ticks.
When it comes to the basics, Mather shared that there are four main kinds of ticks that people will encounter in the U.S., Western Black Legged Ticks, Black Legged Ticks, American Dog Ticks, and Lone Star Ticks.
Understanding the four different kinds of ticks is important, as Mather shared that only some carry Lyme disease.
“The thing that most people don’t know, and they should know, is that you are only going to get Lyme disease if you are bitten by Black Legged Ticks or Western Black Legged Ticks,” Mather shared.
Mather shared that the risk for Lyme disease is greatest in the Eastern U.S. and mid-Atlantic states, though there are ticks that carry the disease across the country.
“You have to be on the lookout. Whether you’re walking your dog or in your backyard or in local parklands, these ticks can be abundant,” Mather said.
Best practices for those looking to avoid the little blood suckers this summer includes wearing clothes treated with repellent, ensuring your dog has protective repellent measures, and checking for them after spending time in an area where ticks are common.
Mather says that when checking for ticks, looking around your pet’s head is most important, as well as under their arms, in their ears, and around their paws.
For humans, Mather says that taking your clothes off and looking in the mirror, or with someone else, is vital as a tick may latch on somewhere you can’t see without assistance.
“The best way to get a tick off is to use a pointy tweezer. It’s never been a good idea to squeeze the back end of a tick,” Mather said, adding that avoiding flat-ended tweezers is best when removing the “potential bag of germs stuck to your skin with a straw.”
While you may want to chuck the tick after removing it, Mather says we should be taking a picture of its backside so that it can be identified. To do so, Mather recommended his university’s free tick-identifier tool, which can be accessed here.
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