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Comment by LeifCarrotson | Hacker News Reader

They are really bad here in the Midwest US this summer (it's been consistently hot and wet). I have removed like 11 from the total of myself, my wife, my dog (accounts for 7 of the total, even on tick meds), and my son. Last year it was 2.

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That is irritating, but ticks can pretty much end your life if you get rougher version of boreliosis or brain damaging infection (I forgot its name).

I think you're referring to Lyme disease.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyme_disease

Fortunately they seem to be all dog ticks around here, not the Lyme-disease carrying deer ticks:

http://www.tickencounter.org/tick_identification/dog_tick

However, that information only helps some people feel comforted when they find a tick on their person or in their home.

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE)? Lyme also damages your nerve system, according to some newer schollary articles.

Well at least vaccines exist against that one... It's recommended to get it in the South of Germany if you're at risk of having ticks. There are a few hundred cases every year.

Yes that's the one.

Is that number attached or crawling? If attached, how many have you caught before they dug in? I live in the same area and that number would be really low. Stumble on some deer ticks and you'd be lucky if you only end up with 10x that number.

9 attached, 2 crawling. I don't stumble on many deer ticks, even though my dog and I put in some 30 miles a week running through the local singletrack parks!

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