{"id":2069,"date":"2024-05-23T15:22:42","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T15:22:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/23\/how-to-remove-ticks-and-what-to-know-about-these-bloodsuckers\/"},"modified":"2024-05-23T15:22:42","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T15:22:42","slug":"how-to-remove-ticks-and-what-to-know-about-these-bloodsuckers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/23\/how-to-remove-ticks-and-what-to-know-about-these-bloodsuckers\/","title":{"rendered":"How to remove ticks and what to know about these bloodsuckers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Maybe you spotted one crawling up your leg after a hike through tall grass or felt one on your dog\u2019s back as you ran your hand through its fur. If you\u2019re unlucky, maybe you found one already burrowing into your skin, engorged with your blood. <\/p>\n

Ticks are parasitic bloodsuckers, capable of spreading deadly disease, and they\u2019re becoming increasingly common. Here\u2019s what you need to know about them. <\/p>\n

Ticks 101<\/h3>\n

Ticks are arachnids, close cousins of mites and more distant cousins of spiders. There are\u00a0more than 800 species of ticks found around the world, and 84 that have been documented in the United States. However, only a handful in the US bite and transmit diseases to humans. The most common ones are blacklegged ticks (also known as deer ticks, but they feed on lots of animals besides deer), lone star ticks, American dog ticks and brown dog ticks.<\/a> <\/p>\n

After a tick egg hatches, it goes through three life stages: larva, nymph and adult. Both male and female ticks feed on blood by inserting their barbed, straw-like mouthparts into the skin of their host (unlike mosquitoes, which only bite if they\u2019re females preparing to lay eggs). However, only female ticks drink to the point that they become engorged. <\/p>\n

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Related article<\/span> What scientists say keeps mosquitoes at bay<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWhen you see a super big and engorged female, that means she\u2019s going to be laying eggs and starting that life cycle process over again,\u201d said Kait Chapman, an extension educator and urban entomologist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. <\/p>\n

These arachnids change dramatically in size and appearance based on how old they are and how much blood they\u2019ve drunk. \u201cThe nymph blacklegged tick, if you put these unfed ones on a poppy seed bagel, they blend in quite nicely,\u201d said Dr. Thomas Mather, a professor of public health entomology at the University of Rhode Island and director of that school\u2019s Center for Vector-Borne Disease and its TickEncounter Resource Center. Meanwhile, an engorged adult female of the same species can swell to the size of a pea. <\/p>\n

Tick bites and diseases<\/h3>\n

While there are some months when different species and life stages are more active, it\u2019s possible to get bitten by a tick any time of year. If you find a tick attached to you (or your pet), you should remove it carefully. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe recommendation is that you use a pair of tweezers, get the tick by its head as close to the skin as possible and pull it straight out,\u201d Chapman said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to twist, because we could leave part of that mouthpart embedded in the skin. And we don\u2019t want to grab the body because if you squeeze the body the tick could regurgitate more, which means that you\u2019re increasing your chance of getting tick-borne illness.\u201d <\/p>\n

Your impulse might be to squash the freshly removed tick, but it\u2019s better if you drown it with hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol and keep it to show to an expert or at least take a photo. That way, you can identify what kind of tick it is and how long it\u2019s been feeding; the University of Rhode Island\u2019s\u00a0TickEncounter website has tools\u00a0based on coloration, size and geographic location. <\/p>\n

<\/a>It\u2019s important to identify the tick because certain species carry different diseases. They pick up bacteria, viruses and other microbes from the blood of infected hosts, and when they bite a new victim, they can pass those pathogens along. <\/p>\n

Blacklegged tick larvae and nymphs, for instance, often feed on white-footed mice,\u00a0which can carry a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi. When a tick that\u2019s fed on one of these infected mice then feeds on a human, it can pass along that bacterium, which causes Lyme disease. <\/p>\n

Lone star ticks, on the other hand, don\u2019t feed on white-footed mice and consequently aren\u2019t carriers of Lyme. (They do carry other disease-causing microbes, though, and their bites can introduce a sugar molecule into the bloodstream that\u00a0makes people allergic to red meat.) <\/p>\n

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Related article<\/span> Mysterious meat allergy passed by ticks may affect hundreds of thousands in US, CDC estimates<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In\u00a0a September 2023 study, researchers identified a protein that appears to play a big part in how some ticks \u2014 including the deer tick and the Western blacklegged tick \u2014 get infected by the harmful bacteria Anaplasma phagocytophilum before spreading it to human hosts and causing anaplasmosis, which is different from Lyme disease. <\/p>\n

Anaplasmosis can cause severe headaches, fever and chills, vomiting, and fatigue,\u00a0according to Cedars-Sinai. <\/p>\n

Understanding this protein may give scientists a better sense of how to stop the spread of the disease through ticks, the study said. But there is still a lot of research ahead before they get there. <\/p>\n

Preventing tick bites<\/h3>\n

The diseases carried by ticks can be debilitating or even life-threatening, and the risk of infection increases the longer a tick has been on you. While there are some treatments available, it\u2019s best to avoid getting bitten in the first place. <\/p>\n

Various studies have suggested factors that could play a role in tick attraction, including a recent paper showing a\u00a0connection between tick attraction and static electricity\u00a0in a laboratory setting. And while ticks are attracted to cues such as the carbon dioxide exhaled by animals, they tend to lie in wait rather than actively seeking out their prey.<\/a> <\/p>\n

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Related article<\/span> Babesiosis, a tickborne disease, is on the rise in Northeast, according to CDC report<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cContrary to popular belief, they don\u2019t fall from trees. They simply sit at the edge of a tall blade of grass, for example, that\u2019s maybe hanging over someplace, and they\u2019ll put their front leg out. We call that questing,\u201d Chapman said. \u201cThey will wait for that host to brush right by them, and so that\u2019s primarily how people get ticks: They brush by it; it attaches to their leg or their clothes.\u201d <\/p>\n

Insect repellents containing DEET, picaridin and oil of lemon eucalyptus have been\u00a0approved by the Environmental Protection Agency\u00a0to protect against ticks. However, these chemicals work differently against ticks than they do against mosquitoes. <\/p>\n

For instance, DEET \u201cburns the feet of ticks, and they fall off because their feet are burning,\u201d as opposed to interfering with the tick\u2019s ability to find its prey the way DEET affects mosquitoes, Mather said. What\u2019s more, \u201cas soon as the product is dried, it doesn\u2019t burn as much, so it really doesn\u2019t last very long for ticks.\u201d <\/p>\n

Instead, Chapman recommends preventing tick bites by covering your skin and tucking the bottoms of your pants into your socks. Ticks also are killed by half an hour in the dryer, so toss your clothes in as soon as you get home, even before you wash them. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, \u201cwe favor\u00a0wearing treated clothes with permethrin\u00a0\u2014 it\u2019s far, far more effective\u201d than bug spray, Mather said. \u201cIt blocks nerve conduction in ticks, and it makes them hyper-excited and then they just lose function pretty quickly, and it actually ends up killing them.\u201d Depending on where you live, he said, it might also make sense to investigate exterminating ticks living in your yard. <\/p>\n

These precautions might seem extreme, but to Mather, they\u2019re the way of the future, because \u201cwe live in a \u2018more ticks in more places\u2019 world, and more people are being exposed.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Related article<\/span> How to stay healthy this summer, according to an expert<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Climate change may play some role\u00a0in the spread of ticks, but Mather said he believes that the influx of the parasites has more to do with white-tailed deer becoming more common in areas where higher densities of people live. As a result, he said, \u201cMore people are being exposed to the ticks that are reproducing on white-tailed deer.\u201d <\/p>\n

Despite the spread of ticks and the severity of illnesses that they can cause, Chapman stressed that with proper precautions (for you and your pets \u2014 ask your vet for tick preventatives), they shouldn\u2019t hold you hostage inside your home. <\/p>\n

\u201cYes, ticks exist. Yes, they can be a public health concern, but we don\u2019t want you to let ticks keep you indoors,\u201d she said. \u201cYou should still be able to go outside and enjoy nature, but you just have to, once again, perform those tick checks. So take a little bit of time. Do that.\u201d <\/p>\n

Kate Golembiewski<\/em> is a freelance science writer based in Chicago who geeks out about zoology, thermodynamics and death. She hosts the comedy talk show \u201cA Scientist Walks Into a Bar.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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