Winter 2018
Tick
Smart Newsletter
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Happy New Year!
Here we are in 2018
, and one resolution we at TickEncounter set for ourselves each year is to choose at least one new way to be TickSmart-er. For you, maybe that means learning how to better identify ticks so you can be prepared with knowing your risk of disease if you should encounter one. Or perhaps it means treating your typical hiking or gardening clothes with permethrin in time for spring outdoor activity.
Join us in the commitment to being TickSafe this year and mull over our list of
New Year’s Resolutions for 2018
while you enjoy this season’s newsletter offerings.
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Tick Forecast
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Tick FAQ Highlight
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What Makes Ticks Tick?
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TickSmart Products and Services
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Current
Right: Adult female blacklegged tick (
Ixodes scapularis
) crawls on a human host. Photo credit: B. Mullen
As most of the country emerges from a deep freeze to more seasonal (but still freezing) temperatures, we’re pretty certain that ticks are not at the forefront of your mind. However, it’s important to remember that
blacklegged ticks
ARE active in the winter, but only when the temperatures are above freezing and there isn’t a layer of snow on the ground covering them. But don’t forget – they’re simply incapacitated,
NOT
dead. Check out our
Polar Vorticks experiment
to see what we mean! The key to reactivating these ticks is several consecutive days of non-freezing temperatures and a lack of snow cover, which is what we’re seeing right now in the mid-Atlantic and southern New England states.
However, blacklegged ticks aren’t the only ticks to watch out for.
Brown dog ticks
are adapted as sub-tropical ticks but can be active all year, inside and outside in sub-tropical climates but inside year-round anywhere. and These ticks can pose a major problem. In addition to quickly infesting homes, they can carry spotted fever group rickettsia, including the germ causing Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
(Rickettsia rickettsii
) and are capable of infecting dogs and (more rarely) humans.
Eradicating brown dog ticks
is difficult and costly, and it’s definitely worth taking the extra time to check your dog after it has been at a kennel, shelter, or any facility where dogs are kept in close quarters.
Another risk at this time of year is the possibility of moving brown dog ticks from warmer wintertime locations back to more permanent northern residences. Snowbirds that escape the coldest parts of winter in milder locations in Arizona, southern Florida and Texas in particular risk bringing brown dog ticks back home to the more northerly tier of states.
The point is you should remain vigilant for ticks throughout the cold months. We’ve been receiving many
TickSpotters
reports of several day-fed blacklegged ticks found on people and pets from both east and west coasts – an indication that ticks are still active and prevention measures are not being taken. By the way, on the west coast, you’re seeing BOTH nymphs and adult
western blacklegged ticks
right now (Jan-Apr.), while elsewhere in the country there are only adult deer ticks. Continue performing tick checks on people and pets after time outdoors, and definitely continue treating your pet with
tick preventative
each month! Check out our latest
TickNote
for more information.
Below: Dr. Tom Mather demonstrating that freezing temperatures don't kill ticks.
Photo credit: B. Mullen
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Looking Ahead
While warmer days seem far off, spring will be here before you know it. Now is the time to begin preparing for how you will protect you and your family against ticks as they begin to emerge when temperature rise. Adult blacklegged, Lone Star and American dog ticks all become active in March and April; the latter two types of ticks continue their activity into the summer with adult blacklegged ticks remaining on the scene only through May. Could you tell each of these types of tick apart? What about an adult from a nymph or larvae? Identification is important because each type carries its own chance of causing disease. Take the time now to make sure you
know the ticks
found in your region and
know when they’re active.
In addition to daily tick checks, consider stepping up your TickSmart actions by looking into treating outdoor clothing and shoes with
permethrin
. This is the best and most effective way to ward off ticks and diseases they’re carrying by simply getting dressed. Learn more
here
. You also can prevent tick encounters at home by making a plan for a
TickSafe yard
. Consider tactics like perimeter spray treatments, placing mouse-targeted devices, or simply keeping shrubs and grasses trimmed, deer fences in place, and wood piles cleared to make your yard unattractive to ticks and the wildlife that carry them. Check out our diagram for a
TickSmart backyard
.
Click
here
for more TickSmart ideas to stay tick safe. If you do have a tick encounter, make sure to save the tick, snap a picture, and send it to our
TickSpotters program
for identification and risk assessment.
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Answering questions about your tick encounters
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Question: “
If during the removal process you leave the (tick) head in your skin, is there a chance that what got left inside will keep on living and even crawling under your skin or even deeper in your body? What are the chances that your body will expel the remaining parts of the tick's body and not let it embed in your skin? A couple of days ago I removed a tick from my upper arm but not completely, the wound seemed to be healing, but there is still a small red 2 mm diameter dot on my arm. How long would a tick head stay under your skin before it gets ejected?”
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TERC Answer:
This is something that concerns many people, but it is just not possible for ticks to 1) continue living once they have been ripped in two; and 2) for them to embed any more than their mouthpart (hypostome) into your skin (see above photo). The little red mark you mention is just inflammation around the tick mouthpart that remains. Eventually this will be pushed out much like a splinter would be. You probably want to keep an eye on the bite area just in case the tick transmitted a disease-causing germ while it was intact and feeding on you, or to make sure a localized skin infection doesn't occur. Take a photo of the bite, and document any growth by drawing a circle with a pen around the red area. See your physician if you're concerned.
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Why are ticks so difficult to remove?
Check out the hardware! Palps fold away to reveal hooked chelicerae, and backward facing barbs on the skin-piercing hypostome. Ticks are adapted to hold on tight.
Nymphal blacklegged (deer) tick (
Ixodes scapularis
)
Image credit: B. Mullen
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What makes ticks tick?
Exploring tick biology curiosities
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All the better to smell you with, my dear!
Guest contributor:
Tanya Josek
, Ph.D. candidate
Dept. of Entomology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Close-up view of the Haller’s organ on an adult female American dog tick (
Dermacentor variabilis
). Photo credit: T. Josek
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If you have ever observed ticks walking or hanging out on vegetation, you may have noticed that they look like they’re waving at you with their front legs, as if to say “Oh, hello there friend!” These ticks are looking for you, but of course they are looking for a meal, not to be your friend. This behaviour, of ticks raising their front legs when a host is nearby, is called questing. All ticks quest, but they typically quest in two different ways, passively or actively. Ticks like
Ixodes scapularis
or the black-legged tick, are passive questers, which means that they wait in leaf litter or climb vegetation with front legs outstretched to grab onto a passerby host. Active questers, like
Amblyomma americanum
, the Lone Star tick, do the same thing but once a host is detected, these ticks will actually start moving towards the host in hopes to catch-up and grab on to it.
But how does the tick actually detect the host? Those waving forelegs are not only used to grab onto a host, but are actually used in a similar way to insects using their antennae to detect odors. Towards the tips of a tick’s first pair of legs is a sort of “nose” called the Haller's organ. This small structure is imperative to a tick’s host finding ability because it helps the tick detect odors released from their hosts. A few of the odors the Haller’s organ can recognize are carbon dioxide, from a host’s breath, and lactic acid, from a host’s sweat. There is also evidence that the Haller’s organ can be used by the tick to detect infrared light or heat released from animals.
When taking a closer look at the Haller’s organ, each tick species has a unique structure, but all consist of many groups of sensory hairs - both inside and outside the organ. Together, all of these sensory hairs help ticks determine when a host is approaching and in what direction the host is located, allowing the tick to position itself in a prime spot to grab onto the oncoming blood meal. The absence of Haller’s organ makes it almost impossible for ticks to find their hosts beyond pure chance. Some scientists are currently researching the Haller’s organ sensory abilities to determine what odors each tick species can detect, and are also working towards determining if the individual shapes of these organs can determine the individual preferred hosts of each tick species. All of this research can lead to better tick monitoring and tick management, which has become increasingly important as more tick-borne diseases are discovered and as the burden of known tick-borne diseases increases.
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Comparison view of Haller’s organs of the blacklegged tick (
Ixodes scapularis
), Lone star tick (
Amblyomma americanum
), and the American dog tick (
Dermacentor variabilis
). Photos taken with a scanning electron microscope. Photo credit: T. Josek.
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Tick
Smart Products and Services
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Check out our TickSmart
products
to find tick identification magnets, tick check reminder shower cards, and other items designed to help you protect you and your family from tick bites.
New to the mix are TickSmart lawn signs! Please contact us at
uri.tickencounter@gmail.com
if you’re interested in ordering by using the subject “TickSmart Lawn Signs.”
In what ways are you using these products to educate and empower your community to be tick safe? Let us know! Post to our Facebook or tweet at us with a picture and post with the hashtag
#WeAreTickSmart
. Let’s get a trend going – online and in real life!
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