Tick Populations Are Booming Across the U.S. And Displaying 'Alarming' New Behavior

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Summer is the thick of tick season. If you spend a lot of time outdoors during the warmer months, whether it’s in the backwoods or the backyard, you’ve probably taken your precautions. It turns out those precautions may be more important than ever, with tick populations not just exploding, but migrating. We’ll tell you what you need to know to protect yourself and your loved ones. Also in today’s news digest: hurricane season’s false start, the year’s first heat wave, and IKEA’s surprise closings.

Scientists Warn of Exploding—And Fast-Traveling—Tick Populations

If you’ve noticed an uptick in, well, ticks, you’re not alone. More and more individuals across the country, even as far north as beyond the Canadian border, have reported sightings. According to the New York Times, at least four types of ticks haven’t just been multiplying at alarming rates, but they’re also going beyond the limits of their typical preferred habitats. Deer ticks are expanding north; the longhorned tick is expanding westward from the East Coast; Gulf Coast ticks are expanding into more northern territory; and the lone star tick is similarly making the large leap from the South to the north, and have been found as far north as Canada.

That’s not the entire story. Ticks aren’t just moving into new areas. They’re also now staying active for a much longer period. In some places, if they stopped searching for someone or something to bite in the fall, they’re now only slowing down in the winter.

Scientists say that climate change is the primary driver of these trends. As the Earth warms, many places that were previously less hospitable to ticks are warming to the degree that they are now viable habitats. Their typical habitats are also getting warmer, so they can stay active for longer.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/tick-populations-booming-across-u-093000357.html

[hlthe2b]

1. If you have dogs/cats, you should be aware that not only has flea/tick/heartworm(mosquito) & intestinal

Parasite control changed to highly comprehensive multi-drug oral formulations given monthly (that likewise combat some intensely emerging drug resistance), but it is heavily pushed for several key reasons. Not the least is the emergence of pathogens within Ixodes species ticks, including the Lyme Disease spirochete bacterium, Borrelia, and the very serious parasite Babesia that can transmit very quickly (hours) upon a tick attaching--unlike those organisms carried by the more common ticks well known from prior decades, including the rickettsial organism that causes Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever among others (usually not transmitted for 36 or more hours after attachment, allowing rapid removal to afford some safety).

This is by way of a longer explanation that among those ingredients in these new protective oral medications is Lotilaner, which kills the ticks quickly and has been shown to do so before Borrelia (Lyme Disease organism) can be transmitted, and probably, but not yet established, before Babesia (parasite that causes a potentially fatal anemia) can be transmitted.

So, Lotilaner is NOW likewise being evaluated in clinical trials for tick (and thus tick-borne Lyme Disease and Babesia prevention) in humans, and the safety profile and efficacy should be very good. This is a tremendous advancement if so (RFK Jr. and his idiots, notwithstanding). Vector-borne disease is going to be an intense health risk for ALL MAMMALS, including Humans, only worsening in the future.
https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05387083
A Human Tick Kill Study to Investigate the Safety, Tolerability, and Whole Blood Concentration of TP-05

[MiHale]

3. Always wondered about humans...

I mean protect my pet but not me? Great news.

[hlthe2b]

5. It is great news. As one who has joined the paranoid, taping my khakis around my boots, donning my long

sleeved shirts, ensuring all my clothes and cap were pyrethrin-treated and slathering in DEET for time in tick/mosquito-infested areas, it would be nice to drop the paranoia down just a tad with more immediate protection. That is among several clinical trials I've been following lately. I feel confident as long as this current FDA doesn't become totally dismantled. by the anti-science crew.

[MiHale]

2. Because we are in the gardens so much...

I’ve been trying to limit the tick population on our place. First was cutting the tall grasses back to create an air gap barrier. Then a twice monthly tick, flea, ant chemical application on the gap barrier and into the taller grasses that surround our place. When having to work in the non protected areas, long pants a sleeves duct taped tight around the openings treated with Ranger Ready, Permethrin version.
Dog has his edible flea and tick meds from the vet but we also treat his collar with Ranger Ready for added protection…don’t need him to transport ticks into the house.

I’m in Northern Michigan, lower peninsula and been battling ticks for years and years. Been bitten quite a bit in years past when the protection wasn’t as great. Haven’t been tested for Lyme but do have some of the symptoms not real bad and they come and go. Other members of the family do have Lyme and are being treated.
Our winters are not cold enough for long enough anymore to inhibit ticks. Hearing the older farmers talking about it they had a rule of thumb…30 days at 20 degrees or lower, preferably lower, will keep the population in check. Not ‘obliterate’ them but do significant damage. Sorry had to get that in, forgive me.

[C_U_L8R]

4. Done in by bloodsuckers

If the ticks and mosquitoes don’t kill us, Trump and his idiot posse surely will.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

6. Bugs I hate

All Ticks, fleas, mosquitoes, bot flies,(scare the hell out of me) ants, wasps,no see ums , gnats, bed bugs ( never had them but they freak me out),bullet ants (saw one once in Maryland . I skewered it on a wire and put it in the freezer to die and to preserve it so I could turn it in at the place you send invasive species.) But there are more.. I hate a lot of bugs.
I know they feed a lot of species but sometimes I wish they’d switch up thier diets and these irritating freaky and dangerous bugs can go extinct.

[yardwork]

9. Gnats don't bother me. I'd add horseflies to your list.

I hate those devils.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

10. Yes those monster flies

That are like 1/2 inches long? Got chewed up by one on my back hurt like hell.

It became infected over the next few days I didn’t know it , scratched it open and icky goo was running down my back. I was surprised at How much goo in such a short time.

After it was ripped open I cleaned it well put neosporin on it and it healed up.

100% on that list :horseflies.

[Vinca]

7. We've noticed an increase in ticks in southern NH. We spray with a cedar-based product that helps repel them

pretty well. I always put some on my hair when I'm working outside because they sometimes drop from the trees. It's amazing to think I'd never even seen one until about 20 years ago and now I've had Lyme once and get bitten at least once a season. In an effort to control them, I try to entice opossums to live close by. They're known to control the population of both ticks and mice.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

11. Didn't know possums eat ticks

We need more possums around

[yardwork]

8. Great. Ticks and mold.

What a Big Beautiful world we've made.