It's the tick season in Colorado. Here is what you need to know.

The tick season is here, and a wet spring can mean that there will be more this year. To find out what you need to know to avoid tick-borne diseases when you venture out into the wild, we spoke to Dr. Rachel Herlihy, Communicable Disease Epidemiologist at the Ministry of Public Health and Environment. Colorado.

The tick season has started, right?

Yes, it's spring, almost summer, so it's the tick season in Colorado. There are many species of ticks in Colorado and the United States. The types of ticks that you have in your community are actually what determines the types of infections or diseases that you can potentially contract. There is a variety. Lyme disease is one of the most common diseases we think about. It is transmitted by a tick that we do not have in Colorado. Lyme disease is not something you'll catch here.

We have here other types of infections. We have an infection called Colorado tick fever, a less common infection called mountain spotted fever, another infection called tularemia, another tick-borne recurrent fever. There is also an unusual disease called tick paralysis. In fact, it is not an infection, it is a reaction to tick saliva that can occur.

This season in particular, hikers and health care providers in our state have heard a lot that they see more ticks than usual. We know ticks like humidity, so when there is a wet spring, it seems to favor them. Hopefully ticks will not deter people from enjoying our beautiful nature, but you can do some things to reduce your risk.

We see ticks in the plains, as well as at higher altitudes. The area you are in determines the ticks you will see. The tick we see most often at altitude is the rock tick wood. The ticks we see at low altitude are going to be dog ticks. We have the Brown Dog Tick and the American Dog Tick in Colorado.

Read more via The Denver Post.