Tick season is starting across the U.S., and experts are warning the bloodsuckers may be as plentiful as ever. Santiago Sánchez-Vicente, an associate research scientist at the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, has tips for reducing your risk of tick bites. FILE - This undated photo provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a blacklegged tick, also known as a deer tick.
Blacklegged ticks — also known as deer ticks, since they feed on deer — are among the most common ticks in the eastern half of the U.S. They were plentiful centuries ago, then diminished when forests were cut down and deer were hunted, and rebounded alongside deer and wooded suburbs. The ticks have spread out from pockets in New England and the Midwest over a widerTick populations cycle through the year and their numbers depend on a few factors.
Ticks can withstand the heat but tend to almost hibernate when it’s a dry summer. That happened in Maine in 2020 through 2022, said Chuck Lubelczyk, a vector ecologist at the MaineHealth Institute for Research. Lyme disease symptoms tend to start between three and 30 days after a bite occurs and can include fever, headache, fatigue and a bull’s-eye-like rash. If you get bitten and develop symptoms, see a doctor to get treated with antibiotics.Experts say the best thing to do is take steps to avoid a tick bite in the first place.