“Yes, it’s been horrible.”
“Totally miserable.”
“Never seen anything like it.”
No, not the heat, as triple-digit heat indexes kept people close to the air conditioner or fan and actual temperatures hovered in the high 90s this week. It’s something else that has been hard to escape as this spring turns into the summer season.
It’s the ticks.
Second only to mosquitoes as disease carriers worldwide, they are the leading carriers of disease to humans in the U.S. Ticks can transmit Lyme disease in both humans and pets, and — much less frequently in Delaware — diseases like Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Ehrlichiosis.
According to the Delaware Division of Public Health, in 2007, Delaware had 233 more cases of Lyme disease than in 2006 — a confirmed 711 human cases. Symptoms can include a “bull’s-eye” rash that is seen in approximately half the time, as well as fever, fatigue, headache, muscle and joint aches. Also, late manifestations, including chronic joint, heart and neurological problems, may occur.
With many people agreeing that this year seems to have more ticks than last, those numbers at this time next year could be interesting.
“Yes, they’ve been horrible,” exclaimed Kim Fischer of the Savannah Animal Hospital in Rehoboth Beach. “And they were earlier this year. We’ve had a lot of rain and humidity. You need certain conditions — moisture and humidity, and we’ve had it. When it gets real hot and no water, you won’t see them as much.”
Fischer urged prevention as the best medicine to battle tick problems for pets and suggested using FrontLine or a new product that is available, ProMeris.
That same sentiment was shared by Cheryl Brandt of the Selbyville Animal Hospital.
“They’re bad,” she agreed. “It depends on the area you live in. If you live in the woods, it’ll be worse. Last year, it was dry, and we saw a lot of problems with fleas. And it seems, this year, it’s the ticks.”
Brandt said dogs, as well as humans, can get Lyme disease and can suffer other problems from ticks as well. She said pet owners who remove ticks from their pets should then put the ticks in alcohol or flush them down the toilet, and should wash their hands after handling ticks. But she cautioned them not to crush the pets or step on them, as that may allow for more disease transmission.
There are several tick removal devices available but, again, Brandt stressed preventing the tick bites in the first place, by using Frontline or something similar for pets.
“The best thing is the preventive — to check over your children when they come in, check yourself and animals,” she said.
Jim Alderman, restoration coordinator for the Center for the Inland Bays who manages the James Farm Ecological Preserve near Ocean View, said the ticks have been ‘totally miserable” this year, as have deer flies.
“It seems this is the year of the insects,” he said. “I’ve had 50 tick bites this year already.”
He said it isn’t always practical to wear the long-sleeved shirts and pants that are often recommended for prevention, especially with heat like this past week, but he recommended people use the precautions they can, and to be careful of unknowingly transporting the unwanted creatures home with them after being outside.
“They might not come home on you, but they come home with dogs,” he said.
Local artist Ellen Rice, who lives on the edge of James Farm and has two dogs, said the prevalence of ticks this year is unprecedented in her experience.
“I’ve lived in this house since 1994, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said.
Many experts suggest that the wet spring and mild winter may have had a lot to do with what seems like an extraordinary amount of ticks for the area. According to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, pinpointing how weather affects certain localized tick populations is not exactly cut and dry, but certain environmental factors can weigh in on both ticks and their hosts.
“Tick populations can be influenced by a variety of environmental factors that can fluctuate, including temperature and rainfall. How this might actually affect the numbers of ticks at any given location at any given time can be quite complicated, involving what life cycle stage of a tick is being affected by such factors at what time of year and for how long.
“Such environmental factors can also affect the numbers of tick hosts — for example, populations of small rodents or deer — either directly or via changes to the food resources or habitats for tick hosts, which in turn can have a major impact on tick population levels. These environmental factors can also influence populations of tick predators or tick pathogens, in turn, of course, then also affecting tick population levels,” explained William Meredith of DNREC.
Regardless of why there seems to be so many ticks this year, it makes sense to use caution. The Delaware Division of Public Health offers simple steps that can be taken to reduce the chance of being infected with a tick-borne disease:
• Wear light-colored clothing to better allow you to see ticks crawling on your clothing.
• When possible, wear long sleeves and long pants. Tuck your pant legs into your socks.
• Apply tick repellants. Repellents containing permethrin can be sprayed on boots and clothing and will last for several days. Repellents containing DEET can be applied to the skin but will last only a few hours before reapplication is necessary. For adults, use insect repellents containing less than 50 percent DEET. On children, use repellent containing less than 30 percent. It is not recommended to apply repellent on infants less than 2 months old.
• Upon return from outdoor activities in potentially tick-infested areas, search your body for ticks.
• Check children for ticks, especially in the hair. Additionally, ticks may be carried into the household on clothing and pets.
If someone does find a tick on themselves, a family member or pet, DPH offers these removal tips:
• Use fine-tipped tweezers or shield your fingers with a tissue, paper towel or rubber gloves. Avoid removing ticks with bare hands whenever possible.
• Grasp the tick close to the skin’s surface and pull upward with steady, even pressure.
• Do not squeeze, crush, or puncture the body of the tick, since its fluids (saliva, body fluids, gut contents) may contain infectious germs.
• After removing the tick, cleanse the site with an antiseptic or soap and water, and wash your hands.
Delaware’s Division of Public Health does not recommend the use of some long-standing home remedies, such as applying petroleum jelly or hot matches to ease tick removal. These methods simply do not work.
For more information on reducing ticks in your yard and around your home and general prevention information, visit the Web site at http://www.cdc.gov/Features/StopTicks.