“The trend is every year is a tick year,” said Stephen Rich, Professor of Microbiology at Umass Amherst.
And this year is no different. Rich said August is the end of peak tick season which started back in April with adult deer ticks, and now we’re seeing more lymph ticks.
“We’ve seen lots of ticks lots of tick-borne diseases associated with upwards of a dozen different things that are transported by ticks now,” said Rich.
Some people enjoying a sunny day at the dog park Sunday said they worry about themselves and their furry friends.
“We spread tick insecticide on our lawn we have to give tick medicine to the dog topically and even then he does have some breakthrough ticks,” said Margaret Pless, Dover, “Some members of my family have gotten Rocky Mountain spotted fever before it’s not fun.”
Rich said 25%-35% of Nymph ticks carry Lyme Disease and while Powassan Virus is much more rare, it can make you sick fast and cause swelling in the brain.
According to Mass.gov, in June less than .5% of emergency department visits in any week were related to ticks and less than .3% were related to a diagnosis of tick borne illness.
“Ticks emerging where they weren’t before,” said Rich.
Rich said while tick season is winding down until the fall, mosquito season is about to ramp up.
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