By Brie Zeltner, The Plain Dealer | Posted on July 11, 2019 at 6:00 AM | Updated on 11 July 2019 at 06:11
CLEVELAND, Ohio – As the summer approaches and as many Ohio residents head out to go hiking, biking, swimming and playing, ticks cause disease to us. wait in backyards, woods and parks.
The tick season lasts from spring to early fall, with peak activity for the Lyme Disease bacterium carrying the blacklegged tick (or deer) first striking between May and June, then in the fall , according to the Ohio Department of Health. So far this year, 104 Ohioians have been diagnosed with Lyme disease, which, when left untreated, can cause fever, rashes, facial paralysis and of arthritis, according to the report ODH. The number of cases of Lyme disease is increasing every year throughout the country as ticks carrying bacteria spread to new states and counties.
From left to right, black-legged tick (nymph and female), tick Lone Star, American tick. (Submitted by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services)
Ticks can attach to any part of the body, but are particularly sensitive to hot, hard-to-examine areas such as the groin, armpit and scalp, making them more hard to find. This difficulty is compounded by the fact that ticks often bite when they are tiny and are about the size of a poppy seed. This is clearly demonstrated by a recent photo tweeted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in which several tick nymphs were camouflaged among real poppy seeds on a muffin.