Every year, deer ticks bite thousands of people in the Northeast. And as winters in the region become more mild, adult deer ticks are becoming more active at a time when they鈥檙e normally dormant 鈥� causing a bigger public health risk.
鈥淚t鈥檚 becoming a year-round, check-yourself-for-ticks situation,鈥� said Dr. Toni Lyn Morelli with the
Morelli said if temperatures are at or above 40 degrees Fahrenheit, adult deer ticks will emerge to seek hosts in the winter.
Data from show that New England temperatures are rising faster than national and international averages. The largest increases in the region .
Deer ticks, also known as blacklegged ticks, can pass on . Lyme in particular for some people.
鈥淓verybody鈥檚 looking for the scapegoat when it comes to vector-borne diseases and ticks and tick-borne diseases,鈥� said Dr. Megan Linske with the 黑料吃瓜网 Agricultural Experiment Station. 鈥淚 think climate change is a big one.鈥�Testing 鈥榯icks of concern鈥� in a 黑料吃瓜网 lab
In New England, there is little active tick surveillance in winter, which requires going outdoors to collect ticks.
Instead, the 黑料吃瓜网 Agricultural Experiment Station runs to determine whether a tick bite gave someone a disease. 黑料吃瓜网 residents either drop off ticks they pulled off people or a pet, or mail them into the lab in New Haven, 黑料吃瓜网.
On a day in February, Entomology Department head Dr. Goudarz Molaei tested a female adult deer tick that was sent in. It was so swollen that it was almost unrecognizable. The tick might have fed for several days, Molaei said, which could make it more likely to transmit an infection.
鈥淭his is a fully engorged tick,鈥� Molaei said. 鈥滻t is a tick of concern.鈥�
And his lab is seeing lots and lots of ticks.
From December into late February, he said 275 tick samples arrived at his lab, which is much more than past winters. Noelle Khalil, a research technician with the lab, placed the fully engorged tick in a vial, added liquids, and shook it all up to break up the tissue before putting it into a centrifuge.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to spin all this debris you see to the bottom,鈥� Khalil said, holding up the small mixture.
Results take a few days to come back after more steps and a PCR test.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that national Lyme disease rates , with New England experiencing the biggest increase in cases and overall infections.
Meanwhile, Northeast Regional Climate Center show that average regional temperatures from November to January were 1 to 7 degrees higher than normal for half of the last decade.
Linske, with the 黑料吃瓜网 Agricultural Experiment Station, said continued warming could lead to greater populations of native and non-native ticks.
鈥淲ithout that limiting factor of winter, we鈥檙e going to see more of those pop up. And we鈥檙e going to see more of them establish in the Northeast as well,鈥� she said.
Learning to live alongside more ticks
Chantal Foster is an avid hiker from central 黑料吃瓜网 and no stranger to ticks. Her dog has had Lyme disease before and recovered, but Foster hasn鈥檛 had it. Just this February, she said she picked ticks off her dog after two hikes. Foster is careful that she and her dog don鈥檛 get bitten.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e just paying attention to what you鈥檙e doing, you should be OK,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not to say that it can鈥檛 happen, but I鈥檓 not going to not go outside.鈥�
In 2019, Linske co-authored examining winter deer tick survival in coastal New England. One finding was that as the mean temperature increased, so did nymphal tick survival.
Linske said that while they research how to manage tick populations, people in the Northeast must learn to coexist with them year-round. Whether it鈥檚 the backyard or the woods, brushy, wooded areas, tall grass and leaf litter 鈥� and doing a full body check of people and pets afterward.
鈥淚t鈥檚 being more cognizant of the ticks that are on the landscape and the potential diseases that they may carry with them,鈥� Linske said, adding that in her work monitoring ticks, she hasn鈥檛 caught Lyme. 鈥淎nd I think it鈥檚 because we鈥檙e vigilant.鈥�
