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In general, adult blacklegged ticks are about the size of a sesame seed and nymphal ticks, about the size of a poppy seed.
KINGSFORD – Some good news for nature: this year seems to be less lenient for ticks.
Although the Dickinson-Iron District Health Department has submitted more ticks to tests this year than in 2018, Health Officer Daren Deyaert said he believed the number Total ticks were below average, although no investigation was done.
This does not mean that precautions should not be taken to catch one of these tiny hitchhikers. Michigan has more than 20 known tick species, all in search of blood. Many varieties can transmit diseases when they are feeding.
American ticks – more commonly known as wood ticks – may carry the bacteria responsible for Rocky Mountain spotted fever, or tularemia. Wood ticks account for 76% of all ticks tested in Michigan, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
The second most common, at 15%, is the blacklegged tick or deer, the most well-known type of Lyme disease bacterium, a disease that can lead to arthritis, paralysis of the facial nerve, palpitations cardiac and meningitis if it is not treated.
Although not all ticks carry disease, the DIDHD encourages people to test them, explained Deyaert – and resist the urge to kill them.
"As soon as the host dies" he explained, "The bacteria are dying."
Ticks brought to the DIDHD are sent to an MDHHS laboratory, where they are identified and baded. According to Deyaert, female ticks generally carry the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, especially those in the nymphal stage of their life cycle.
The DIDHD has had 12 confirmed cases of Lyme disease in 2019, and another 15 are under investigation. The total for the region since 2015 is 147, said Ruth Manier, RN, Director of Community Health Services for DIDHD.
"We are considered a high incidence area", Handle said. "We have probably 15 cases of Lyme disease for each case in Iron County."
With this in mind, Manier recommends wearing appropriate clothing to go outside and apply insect repellents containing 40% of DEET. Be sure to read the label and instructions for proper application of all repellents, Manier said.
Other suggestions from the MDHHS include:
– Avoid areas infested with ticks. Walk in the center of the trails to avoid contact with grbad, brush and dead leaves covering the vegetation along the trails.
– Protect pets too. The use of tick prevention products on pets is recommended.
– Use an insect repellent containing DEET or Picaridin on exposed skin.
– Treat clothing – especially pants, socks and shoes – with permethrin, which kills ticks by contact, or buy pre-treated clothing. Do not use permethrin directly on the skin. Always follow the manufacturer's instructions when applying insect repellents.
– Perform daily checks of ticks. Always check your safety and that of your pets after an outdoor outing, even in your own garden. Carefully inspect all body surfaces and remove ticks attached with a tweezers. To remove a tick, grasp it firmly and as close to the skin as possible, then remove it with a steady movement. Clean the area with an antiseptic.
– Take a bath or shower as soon as possible after your arrival indoors, preferably within two hours, to wash yourself and allow you to more easily find ticks crawling on you.
– Wash clothes in hot water and dry them at high temperature to eliminate ticks.
In addition to ticks, these precautions also protect mosquitoes, which appear to have benefited from a wet spring. The main risk they run in the area is West Nile virus. Although only about 1 in 150 people will develop serious complications, West Nile fever can cause encephalitis and meningitis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Brochures on ticks and mosquitoes are available at the DIDHD reception at 818 Pyle Drive in Kingsford.
"They are there," Deyaert said parasites, "And they will not leave."
Brian Christensen can be reached at 906-774-2772 x 29 or [email protected].
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