Buffalo, NY (WBEN) - As the temperature gets warmer, many of us will be heading outdoors more often, and that could lead to a risk of ticks biting into our good times.
Tick season is now almost year round, says UB's Dr. Tom Russo. "We have a few months where we're spared, and right now we're really in the full bloom of tick season, and this is largely due to it getting warmer in Buffalo," says Russo. "During the cold winter months, ticks will hibernate, but once it gets warm, they'll come out. And over the last several weeks, the weather has been extraordinarily conducive, and they're on the hunt, and they're looking for animals, and they're looking for us."
Russo says tick bites can cause infections. "I think most people are aware of a common infection transmitted by ticks is Lyme disease. However, there are multiple other infectious agents that could be transmitted by ticks in our area, diseases that includes Babesiosis, Anaplasmosis and others, and sometimes an individual that's bitten could get more than one of these diseases," says Russo. He advises it's really best to reach out to your healthcare provider to make sure that you haven't acquired a tick borne disease, because the overwhelming majority of these infections can be effectively treated if recognized and especially if treated early.
How do you protect yourself? "I think we need to start with first trying to minimize exposure to environments where ticks dwell, and those are areas that are grassy, that has dense vegetation, bushes, and this could be as simple as your backyard, if you don't maintain your lawn, or if you backyard is a wooded area with lots of shrubs, or it could be an area where you might go out for a hike with your dog or just with yourself and a nice day. So it's critically important to try to avoid these areas if possible. If you're hiking, stay in the middle of the path. Don't wander off into tall grass or into the shrubbery. And with regard to your backyard, it's important to keep that grass and those shrubs neatly trimmed so that in that manner, you'll minimize exposure," says Russo.