Ticks may be the next global health threat | Hacker News Reader

Ticks may be the next global health threat

theguardian.com

164 pointsyawz152 comments

Had to go through a Lyme treatment last year myself.. it was not fun. The antibiotics regime was easily one of the lowest points in my life - just felt terrible for weeks.

The thing I was taught by this experience, is to never, ever screw around with it. In my case I was attacked by a swarm of ticks during a hot period (Vienna, Austria) and I kind of ignored the bites .. thought nothing of them after discovering the ticks (2) and removing them .. but after 2 days, I had 4 red splotches over my body, and it was clear that I had the characteristic 'bullseye' symptoms.

Thought "okay, I can live through this" and didn't do anything about it for about 5 - 6 weeks; splotches went away, and I thought I was fine. No. Just, no. I was not fine.

Aches and pains like none I've experienced before (being Australian, I've had a few nasty bites in my life), and malaise and lethargy that was seriously affecting my ability to live life. Doctor told me I was an idiot for not coming in right away - that I could very well have done damage to my brain - and was put on a super strong antibiotics regimen .. which was pain itself, since it screwed with everything.

Anyway, had my blood tests, and they think I'm fine. But I have to go back in a month for another round of tests - because even if you think you're fine, after Lyme, you may not be fine for a few years. It can persist in the human body.

So, don't be a fool like me: if you get a tick, go immediately to the doctor and get it sorted. Trust me the symptoms are just awful.

We have a vaccine for it, but for various regulatory & market reasons it's no longer available

https://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/history-l...

I received a shot of the vaccine when it was available. Unfortunately the projected longevity of the immunity conferred was only 3-5 years. By the time that period had passed for me the vaccine was no longer available.

> There is no evidence to suggest that the Lyme disease vaccine ever caused Lyme arthritis, but it was taken off the market largely in response to lawsuits alleging exactly that.

Your dog can get a vaccine but you can't.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/dogs-can-get-lyme-disease-...

...is this surprising or unusual to you?

> So, don't be a fool like me: if you get a tick, go immediately to the doctor and get it sorted. Trust me the symptoms are just awful.

I'm glad to hear you're on your way to a full recovery given the severity of Lyme.

Your advice to "go immediately to the doctor" is not only important with regard to ticks but to all manner of infection. Most infections have similar symptoms and distinguishing between something discomforting and something deadly is a matter for a health care professional.

Stoicism with regard to maladies is practically a cliché among strong-willed people (men especially). Always consult a doctor with unusual infections, and seemingly usual ones, too, if you can.

If you remove a tick within a few hours you're likely to be fine especially if you don't see the telltale red circular rash.

Running to the doctor for non-issues is part of why our medical costs have increased so much the last few years. There's so much marketing to "ask your doctor" about this and that and the other thing these days. And when you go, of course the doctor is obligated to run a battery of tests to cover his ass.

Yeah, Lyme disease is not a "non-issue", it is an issue, and a serious one, and you don't wanna fuck with it.

So, learn to spot the symptoms, and go get it sorted with a doctor. Like you would with any parasite.

Depending on what part of the country/world you're in, there's also a wide variety of tick-borne illnesses with very scary mortality rates if untreated.

I didn't say anything that conflicts with this. If you have symptoms of Lyme, such as the circular red rash, definitely get it checked out.

Rentier syndrome and fraud has more to do with high healthcare costs than utilization.

Unfortunately there is not always a rash present and even if there is one it's not always the bullseye rash. The other early symptoms are feeling like you have the flu, fever, and being tired. So it can sometimes be hard to catch early on your own.

You are correct in that the longer a tick is attached the more likely you are to get Lyme. Mayo Clinic says it's unlikely to happen if it'as attached less than 36-48 hours. But some of the ones that can give you Lyme are about the size of a poppyseed and you don't notice them right away. You should always check for ticks after being outside and remove them ASAP.

More info on what to do: https://www.uptodate.com/contents/what-to-do-after-a-tick-bi...

I'd like to think that the reason I don't see a doctor is because I'm tough and stoci, but mostly I don't go because:

a) I have no primary care physician because I don't typicaly go to the doc for any reason

b) although I can afford insurance, it has an insanely high deductible and is very difficult to predict what I will be charged for

c) going to the doctor involves triggering an expensive and difficult to predict system that will possibly bankrupt me.

So I (like a lot of folks) don't go unless there is either an obvious emergency or a horrible, hard to live with long term problem.

So yeah, the advice is probably good, but the reason that I don't tend to take it has little to do with my willpower.

> a) I have no primary care physician because I don't typicaly go to the doc for any reason

This is circular... you saying you don't go to the doctor because you have no PCP, and you don't have a PCP because you don't go to the doctor

> c) going to the doctor involves triggering an expensive and difficult to predict system that will possibly bankrupt me.

I'm having a hard time believing that a standard outpatient visit would bankrupt you. These are typically on the order of $100, and rarely more than a few hundred unless you're going in for specialized procedures, which you've already established you aren't.

Sure, if you go to the doctor, you might find out you have a more serious condition that would require future, longer-term care to address, and that future care may involve additional expenses and inpatient care which you may or may not be able to afford. But that's hardly a reason not to go to the doctor today and find out - at least you'd be able to make that decision on an informed basis.

Having grown up in India, even after I've spent almost my entire adult life in the US, I'm still reluctant to go the doctor here.

In India, the process is very simple: you call the doctor in the morning, you get an appointment for the afternoon, you show up, get looked at, pay the cost of the visit (usually less than $10-15), and you're done. It's basically like any other business transaction. So even if I had a minor seeming infection, going to the doctor was the right and efficient move.

Here, I call the doctor's office, and might not get an appointment for another two months, if I'm lucky. At that point there is some opaque process involving my insurance, and it just seems like a much weightier event than a simple visit should be.

Of course, I'm guessing that an infection would speed up the process, but the psychological barrier is already up in my mind, and I'd rather just power through on my own.

But there seems to be some hope. Recently, my wife was able to go to an urgent care clinic to treat an infection, and the process was much more like what happens in India. Still, there is some intervention of insurance, though a bit more transparently so.

As I'm sure you know, there are urgent care clinics everywhere in the USA for minor ailments and injuries, where you can be seen on a walk-in basis and pay cash if you want to.

When my kid dislocated his hip, I took him to an urgent care clinic, and the process was similar.

They did refer me to an orthopedist and I ended up being out about $450 dollars after they looked at an some imaging and decided it was a growing pain.

That was with insurance, but hey, not wholly unpredictable and because there was nothing treatable I wasn't bankrupted.

A standard office visit tends to be about $100 in my area, sure. That'll get me to talk to the doctor. But if I want to test for Lyme that's a blood test. Now the lab is involved, they may or may not have their own billing department and they won't tell me for anything how much or even ballpark estimate of what it will cost so that they are covered if they need to do more.

So I talk to the doctor and they say XYZ tests need to be run. Okay, now I know what I need exactly and get a price, right? Nope. I just get the run around and "It depends on the insurance" and "We will bill you later" and "No it's probably not $5000" and straight up "I don't know"

Oh, okay, so I need to call the insurance company then, huh? Nope, they won't tell me either. I've tried. They just say "It depends". Even when I know exactly what labs they are going to run. I can say "I understand it might change if they need to run more tests." Nope. No idea.

Sometimes they can give you a straight answer but very often they will not.

It's hidden on purpose. It is confusing on purpose. Insurance companies don't want you to know what's going on. The doctors offices don't want to share "cash-only" info publicly because insurance companies will demand that price. The insurance companies don't want to share the info because people will complain. Etc etc it is not that easy when you go to the doctor for more than the really simple things.

As to the circularity of my first point, without a PCP and no proximate cause, the wait time and cost is.... difficult to predict. With a PCP it is better, but because I don't go to the doctor I don't have a PCP.

Health care in the US is fucked!

I am a man that often avoids going to the doctor, but it isn't out of any level of machismo (I could be deluding myself). Rather, I've had a lifetime of experiences demonstrating that doctors could do nothing for me time and time again.

Not necessarily their fault (medical science is trying to debug a program that you don't have the code for, do not control/know all of the inputs to, and you risk killing them if it crashes) but they've failed me time and time again in diagnosis, effectiveness, and availability, and in the US they were a financial burden until I was fortunate enough to reach the point my budget could take a hit.

This has built a habit of assuming that if I'm not in intense pain, visiting a doctor would be a waste of time and money.

I got pneumonia once. When the cough seemed serious I asked for an appt, but it took several days and by the day of I was struggling to breathe. Ended up going to an urgent care clinic hours before my appt because I was genuinely worried I wouldn't make it to said appt if I waited. The clinic agreed, given that as I walked in to their crowded lobby they heard me rasping and bumped me to the head of the line. I had four people on me at once, giving me oxygen, taking vitals, and one entering the numbers into their computer. I could see the screen, and saw that a few entries triggered a "the number indicates a critical problem, is it accurate?" warnings. They told me later that at 1 percent lower oxygen (i was 92%, which apparently low) they would have sent me to the emergency room. I'm glad they didn't, as their care beat any ER visit I've had, and was only $100, which included lung xrays. An ER visit would have been worse just walking in the door. Still worth it when they can help me breathe, but it demonstrates one reason why one can avoid doctors for seemingly non-serious ailments and conditions, particularly with all the times they've shrugged.

I'm allergic to most everything that won't kill you (pollen, mold, dust mites, cats, dogs, even rats). I have a list of issues with this, mostly constant sinus production/drainage, but only learned it was allergies when I self diagnosed in my 30s and went to an allergist to confirm. Even then, the cause that was dramatic enough to clue me in (rats) was not part of the standard panel. I had to specifically request it...and then point out that they hadn't added it as they said they would. That ended up being so severe that the tiny scratch swelled to the size of a half dollar despite me being on benadryl (i had missed the instruction to skip such meds for the test) AND the calamine lotion they slapped on it almost immediately. Had I not asked for and checked for that test, the specific problem of the moment (my girlfriends pet rats) would have remained undiagnosed (I had a list of potential causes of an uptick in problems, not awareness of any specific one). Not one doctor growing up suggested an allergy test, even though I can now look back and see obvious signs. Not one doctor asked if my symptoms occurred at specific times or places, not one ever mentioned the high constant drainage or inflamed ear canals. (Though doctors offices are pretty allergen free. As a kid I joked that their ugly paint made you feel better, since by the time a doctor came to look in on me my worst symptoms weren't there...in retrospect the repeat experience should have been a clue to them and possibly my younger self) Instead they called it mild asthma (asthma test was negative, but shrug. My guess is that they called it that just to make me feel they had a clue)

Machismo is a problem, but it isn't the sole problem.

Be careful with this. There is a class of issues the medica system is more or less useless with (musculo-skeletal pain, digestive issues, fatigue, the uncommon source allergy symptoms you described)

Then there is stuff they handle extremely well: broken bones, bacteria, and a variety of easily treatable ailments.

I have a few health issues I know I basically can get no medical help on. And then, on the other hand, I had MRSA, and went to the doctor ASAP to get that cured.

Oh, absolutely. Despite my negative experiences I in no way endorse avoiding doctors. As noted in my story, doctors at the urgent care clinic saved me from a much worse time (possibly even death).

I'm just saying (with way too many words) that there are reasons other than stoicism or machismo that people avoid going to the doctor. Were I the OP, I too would have not gone to the doctor for seemingly mild symptoms, and would have suffered as he/she did.

Most of us have no good way of knowing which issues are medically treatable and which aren't.

Ah, I see. Agreed, definitely more than just machismo.

They also seem moderately good at heart and cardiovascular disease, it being insanely common in the US.

Those are much better off prevented than treated.

But you got a point: they suck at preventing CVD, which is a shame.

What magic combination of words did you utter to get the antibiotics you needed? I had a terribly painful bacterial infection once, and six urgent care clinics and ERs all refused to help me unless I had a CT scan first. After a month of this humiliation, I wound up smuggling Augmentin across the border and felt better within 24 hours.

I had an obvious lesion with a head, which the doctor swabbed. Though I did have to go to a second doctor - the first thought it was a less serious infection.

> but it demonstrates one reason why one can avoid doctors for seemingly non-serious ailments and conditions, particularly with all the times they've shrugged.

You didn't have breathing problems when you asked for an appointment; you had a cough. Then when you had breathing problems, you sought out emergency care and had that taken care of. But you blame your original doctor for... not predicting your breathing problems? Or not giving you lung x-rays the moment you diagnosed yourself with pneumonia? I'm confused what you would rather they have done.

The missed allergy sounds like a legit failure, though, but I'm not a doctor.

> I'm confused what you would rather they have done

Other than having more doctors in the world (thus higher availability) and/or lower prices, I don't think this is a solvable problem. My point was not that doctors are terrible, but that people may have decent reasons to suspect going to the doctor for a mild rash (as article had) would not be worth it. Reasons other than stoicism. When I have a cough now, I still don't go to the doctor because the last 4 trips have been "You have bronchitis, just wait it out". I've resigned myself to having a constant low-level cough between Nov-Mar every year.

I do think my allergies should have been detected, but at the same time I understand the reasons they weren't. My goal was not blame, though I can certainly see how my pity-party comment could sound that way.

i have the same problem. i called my primary care to say i hurt my neck in the shower, they said the earliest they could see me was 2 months into the future.

i had step throat, they refused me antibiotics because although i had all the classic symptoms, the strep test was negative. a bottle of penicillin i had at home cured me pretty quickly.

i had pnemonia, i told them this was the sickest i have ever been in my life. my whole body was in pain and i had trouble breathing, especially at night. they told me to drink water and rest. after 2 weeks i got another appointment, i was in really bad shape. they told drink water and rest. 3rd week same, but i refused to leave. i reminded them i lost 40lbs, only then did they take a real look at me.

> "Not necessarily their fault" I do put the fault on them. i think there is something around 'white male, send them home' mentality.

And yet, that is sometimes not enough. A good friend showed his obviously infected foot to a doctor who dismissed the circular rash left from a tick as a localized infection. Fast forward one year and my friend was having major health issues and difficulty making it through the work day. Eventually, it was the worrisome neuropathy in his arms that motivated him to get a full blood test which revealed... it was Lyme disease after all. And bonus! with a year's worth of disease development, a much harder infection to get rid of.

It may be worth lodging a complaint with whatever authority your country may have against that doctor that dismissed the bullseye rash.

> It may be worth lodging a complaint with whatever authority your country may have against that doctor that dismissed the bullseye rash.

Because Lyme's disease is regional - almost exclusively found in the Northeast and Minnesota/Wisconsin - most doctors won't have had much experience with it. Lyme's disease also presents with a lot of different symptoms that are very difficult to differentiate from other conditions (including other tick-borne diseases), which makes it difficult for doctors in those areas to diagnose.

The trademark "bullseye" rash of Lyme looks striking in pictures, but in most cases, it's less heavily pronounced, and it's harder to differentiate from many other possible sources of a rash or irritation. This is actually a problem for people who contract Lyme's disease more than once - after you've had Lyme's once, you will always test positive for the disease, even though you may no longer need treatment, so it's hard to identify patients who have been reinfected.

Just got back from a trip to Brazil and got several tick bites. I'm an epidemiologist, so of course I have the litany of things I'm now exposed to - and the incubation period for all of them sits right on my flight home.

Told my wife that I'm going to feel like crap because of 30+ hours of flying, but if I have a headache that doesn't go away, I need to go to the hospital right now. That was a fun conversation.

There is also a window of time between when a tick attaches and when it can transmit disease. The ticks don't transmit disease until they have spent some time feeding so if you catch the tick within the first 24hrs or so you should be fine.

EDIT: Fixed some incorrect information after I did some more reading on the specifics. Here's a full break down of it:

https://www.uptodate.com/contents/what-to-do-after-a-tick-bi...

And here's the process of a tick attaching: http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/30/heres-wha...

Really? Why would they wait so long to start feeding? Seems like a bad evolutionary trait.

Actually they start feeding immediately, but the bacteria which causes lyme disease lives in the ticks intestinal system (not all ticks carry the bacteria). After the tick is done feeding (in general approx. 1-2 days but can be longer or shorter), or overfeeds, it can ’vomit’ back into the host and possibly spread the bacteria from its intestines. This is also why you want to be careful when removing the tick and it’s best to use special plyers, and avoid squeezing the ticks body.

Thank you for this clarification! I had just found some more information as well I had misunderstood what I was reading prior to this!

thanks, this makes more sense :)

I'm sorry I believe my initial understanding was wrong. The time frame is still correct but I thought it was feeding but after you asked this it made me doubt myself and upon looking it up it's a different reason.

They feed immediately but it appears that it is contingent upon when the tick starts having to get rid of excess water. Until the blood meal has started to engorge the tick, though, the organisms are not activated in the tick's gut. So until you see that the tick has actually engorged a slight amount, it's apparently not enough for you to catch disease from the tick.

https://www.uptodate.com/contents/what-to-do-after-a-tick-bi...

Again, sorry for the incorrect info initially!

What antibiotic did you use? Doxycycline?

probably, my wife had it, and she received doxycycline. She felt terrible for days, not fun. Fortunately we discovered the tick, and later the "bullseye" quite quick, so we hope that it exterminated everything.

FWIW I have been treated for early-stage Lyme twice, both times with amoxicillin, which is often a little gentler on the body than doxycycline (and you don't have to give up alcohol or sunlight). Fortunately it seems like Lyme isn't (yet) too picky about which antibiotics should be used to fight it.

There's a doctor in Hungary specialized on Lyme who treats it with doxycycline or amoxacycline and azithromycin.

http://www.treatlyme.net/treat-lyme-book/lyme-disease-antibi...

Just don't take antibiotics by yourself, go to a doctor.

Lyme can cause very similar symptoms to multiple sclerosis. It's very serious. I know a person who has died fighting Lyme borreliosis.

Regarding watching out for the bullseye rash (ie. "EM rash"):

I didn't even notice mine (though it was 4" in diameter) until after I was diagnosed with Lyme disease (via blood tests), because the rash was on my back -- a place I don't regularly look or check. I also had no idea I was bitten by a tick, or even had any ticks on my body. My biggest mistake was probably just not wearing insect repellent while going in to the woods in an area that had a high incidence of Lyme disease.

Regarding antibiotic treatment -- my own treatment wasn't painful, but more annoying than anything because the antibiotics made my skin very light-sensitive, so I had to mostly stay indoors with the blinds drawn. It's the period before the treatment that was miserable, as I had all sorts of painful symptoms.

Most Lyme disease doesn’t produce the rash, and ticks can transfer non-Lyme infections as well.

I agree with your post, I just wanted to clarify that people shouldn’t think they’re in the clear just because they didn’t get the rash.

Would you be able to describe the pains you felt? Also, would you mind saying where they were?

Hopefully we’ll get a Lyme vaccine pretty soon.

http://www.newsweek.com/lyme-disease-vaccine-valneva-fda-app...

Back story on why a vaccine existed years ago ...and then was shelved because of anti-vax outrage is absolutely enraging for people who live in Lyme territory.

http://legacy.wbur.org/2012/06/27/lyme-vaccine

The withdrawal was unfortunate IMO. But it's not as simple as "anti-vax outrage." Efficacy wasn't great, vaccination only protected for a few years, and there were questions about side effects especially over the long term. [1] Especially given how Lyme has become such a problem in some areas, it's too bad it was withdrawn, but it's not a black and white case.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2870557/

Ticks and mosquitos are why I spray my hiking clothes with permethrin. It's a potent contact neurotoxin for both. It takes a little bit to act after exposure, but ticks will die quickly. Mosquitoes will also fly away and die after contacting my clothes.

It's derived from a chemical found in Chrysanthemums.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permethrin

we make Permethrin 'tick tubes' for our yard. In a nutshell, it's bedding for mice laced with permethrin. Ticks attach to the mice during the mice breeding cycles in March and July here in New England.

https://organicdailypost.com/make-tick-tubes/

I'm out in the yard a lot, I pull ticks off daily. I fortunately never have had Lymes but I noted (anecdotally) that the tick population has exploded in the last 10 years with the milder winters.

It's concerning. Probably going to get a flock of guinea hens this year.

Get your whole yard sprayed, too. It does make a difference if you do it a few times. As other commenters here, and I, can attest, it just isn't worth getting a bite. Lyme is awful.

Get your whole yard sprayed, too

Problem with this is Permethrin is quite a broad-spectrum insecticide and won't kill just ticks but also a lot of other insects (which take care of e.g. pollination and in turn are food for others, etc, the usual picture) and is also not exactly friendly for aquatic life. Also mammals are not completely out of the danger zone, depending on dose. And longer term effects are as far as I know simply unknown. So it needs at least some careful consideration in my opinion.

I keep bees, so that ain't happening.

Be aware that Permethrin is highly toxic to fish and aquatic species. So if your property is anywhere near a stream or a lake, don't do this.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permethrin#Safety

First of all, keep the grass short. The hens are useful, so is a cat to keep rodents away.

Our neighborhood has quite a healthy population of opossums, which are well-known tick-eaters.

Permethrin poisons cats.

Cats kill birds; pets should not be roaming around like wild animals.

Birds also carry ticks, they're another important reservoir host after mice.

https://www.citylab.com/environment/2015/02/suburban-birds-a...

I've sent my favorite hiking pants and shirts to this place to get them treated with Permethrin: <https://www.insectshield.com/ISYOC.aspx>

It saves having to spray the clothing before each trip. Treatment is supposed to last for 70 washings.

The after-market spray I use lasts for about 5 washings.

I looked into this when I was getting into hiking and found out that this is not allowed in Canada, though apparently the Canadian military uses it.

Fortunately at the moment it is too cold where I live for ticks so I don't need to worry about it, but as this article notes, that may not be that way much longer... :(

Permethrin is really fantastic. Anyone here know the best way to apply it to clothes? I've sprayed my clothes with a 0.5% spray, which I got for $5.92/266ml or $14.99/739ml, so about $4.00/ml of pure permethrin.

Amazon has an 8oz/236ml bottle at 10% for $36, so about $1.35/ml of pure permethrin, but then you've got to soak your clothes instead of just spraying them, and that takes several hours and you've got to get rid of the fluid afterwards.

Anyone notice a difference in effectiveness between spraying and soaking clothes?

amazon half gallon Permethrin SFR 20% for $30 and dilute it down

I'm a trail runner, and I _always_ wear knee-high white socks, sprayed with repellent (I will look into Permethrin now).

In NY, VT, ME, and NJ I find ticks on my socks almost every single time I run in the woods. The white socks make them easier to spot.

The socks are not exactly stylish, but I've embraced the look.

When I was 9 my mom got bit by a tick. Her mother had just died and she had just been divorced. She got Lyme disease was in excruciating pain and bed ridden for almost a year. She gained at least 100 pounds. I have very distinct memories of going into her room to just be with my mom and she would just be lying there in excruciating pain. As a kid I didn't really understand it and couldn't understand why she never wanted to do anything. Before she was very engaged and that year she just disappeared. Last year I was driving with my girl friend on a road trip. We stopped at a scenic view and picked some wild flowers. About an hour later I felt something crawling in my beard, discovered a tick before it bit thankfully but it got lost in the floor. I calmly told my girlfriend we have to stop it's an emergency. We promptly pulled over at the next exit and scoured that car and found the tick. Of course it was a spotted dear tick. We took a 30 minute breather and reflected on mortality. Really really scary! I was fortunate to have sensed it and found it before anything happened. So yeah ticks... It only takes one bite. That tick in very high likelyhood is carrying Lyme disease and that one bite will destroy your life. Worst of all... You probably won't even know it's there before it's too late.

Ticks are awful. I used to be completely unconcerned by them as a kid, and have a knack for removing them without breaking, but after having a number of family members and pets affected by Lymes I am super careful.

The random tangent about deforestation and global warming seems ideological to me. Ticks aren’t being forced into contact with us, they want to be wherever they can be.

If anything my guess would there’s a problem with lack of predators, like a reduction in possums or something similar.

It's really strange... I grew up on a farm and remember running through the fallow fields barefoot with shorts on all summer, but the first time I actually saw a tick was in my mid-20s after I had moved to the city and took a walk through the local park. Since then I've found at least one tick on me every summer.

I don't know if I just got lucky in my youth or if ticks are getting worse, but it's something that's stood out to me as curious.

I've had similar experiences plus I've ran 1000s of Orienteering races through Swedish forests and fields. Never a single tick.

Might be they only go after certain people.

I imagine Sweeden is quite cold, more sparsely populated and you probably haven't destroyed so many forests/wildlife as other countries.

> and you probably haven't destroyed so many forests/wildlife as other countries.

What does this have to do with it? New Hampshire is much more forested than it was 200 years ago. The last two years there have been WAY, WAY more ticks than in the years of my childhood. It's a mini crisis here and is completely unrelated to forest destruction or lack thereof.

It's related to deer, mice and bird populations and to lack of big predators that feed on deer. But it's probably much more complicated.

I had the exact same experience, sans farm. I grew up in a small town, though. Spent a ton of time in the country on friends' farms, lying in long grass in shorts no shirt—all of it. I never had a single tick bite. Horseflies, mosquitoes, spiders, all of that, but never ticks. Even in the city I've (thankfully) never seen one.

Now beaches and parks back there (rural south-western Ontario) are littered with "Tick Warning" signs.

You're not the only one who's confused and curious about it. It's like they used to be a non-issue. We were warned about them, I remember that—but that's all.

Me too. Grew up in the country (running through cornfields etc) in SWO and never had a single tick or even thought about ticks. Then this year my son picked up a small tick in McGregor Park on Lake Huron which thankfully tested negative for Lyme. The areas around the shoreline of Lake Huron seem particularly bad these days.

Also anecdotal but I grew up in California camping and hiking all the time, never once got a tick. I’ve been in the Bay Area for the last eight and a half years, also spending lots of time outside and nothing. Then, about a week ago, I got a tick while hiking in Point Reyes. Not even going through deep woods, just on one of the well maintained coastal trails. Thankfully I caught it early, I felt what I thought was a pimple near my armpit and investigated on the car ride home only to realize that it was quite a large tick

The thing is you might have had ticks on you and not even known it. You have to be very careful to check all over your body. How many people actually do that? Also, the tick might be in your hair, so you might not even see it. Finally, some baby ticks (which can carry Lyme) are smaller than the period at the end of a sentence. They are very hard to spot.

Ya, I'll definitely be searching much more thoroughly now. I was lucky that the tick was huge and hard to miss (though it didn't feel that way at the time)

Times have changed. Ticks in the old days weren't all that prevalent and/or carying Lyme. It has worsened after habitat destruction (less wolves and other big predators, more deer that act as tick breeding ground, more mice that act as Lyme reservoir, more migration).

Has the population of the things that eat the ticks declined too?

They're insects, I don't think it has anything to do with natural predators but rather environment conditions, their food source and breeding grounds. Just like with the tiger mosquito, climate and car tyres.

I had the same anecdotal experience from the North East of the US, maybe once every two or three years one tick - now I can expect to find one anytime I walk in long grass.

My thought is the increase in ticks is due to the elimination of widespread DDT spaying, check out this typical scene from 1950's and 60's:

http://slideplayer.com/slide/5357033/17/images/22/to+Humans+...

On the positive side, I never saw a hawk or eagle when I was growing up, and they have returned since they are no longer being pressured by insecticide concentration in their food chain. Maybe we could strike a compromise, bomb tick infested areas for a year or two with DDT to knock down the ticks.

[edit] A red tailed hawk just perched in the tree outside my window.

> The random tangent about deforestation and global warming seems ideological to me.

The relationship between insect outbreaks and climate change is not ideological and has a number of studies supporting the theory that insect populations increase and migrate due to climate change.

Here's one link [0] culled from a quick search on Google [1]

[0] http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[072...

[1] https://www.google.com/search?num=100&source=hp&ei=CNtxWsyxB...

Well, warmer winters don't suppress the native populations, causing population explosions the following summer.

> If anything my guess would there’s a problem with lack of predators, like a reduction in possums or something similar.

Indeed the abundance of predators, notably martens and foxes, in some areas has been linked with a decrease in infected ticks. http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/284/1859/2017...

In the NE its largely because of exploding deer & mice populations, 30 years ago they were rare, now its normal to see deer in West Chester & NJ suburbs.

Bring back coyotes.

One theory is that coyotes displace foxes, which are better at reducing disease-carrying mice populations: http://www.caryinstitute.org/newsroom/fox-and-coyote-and-tic...

"The random tangent about deforestation and global warming seems ideological to me. Ticks aren’t being forced into contact with us, they want to be wherever they can be." - Living in proximity to forest fragmentation is a major risk factor associated with Lyme and other tickborne disease in the United States, and forestry workers worldwide are at staggeringly high risks.

If you do get bit. Get your tick tested. https://www.tickreport.com

I’m from Massachusetts and spend a lot of time on Nantucket, which is like ground zero for Lyme (lots of deer, no predators). A service like this can really give you peace of mind if you do get bit.

Also worth noting, a tick bite is not like a snake bite. It’s not really like being instantly injected with a venom or a foreign pathogen. From what I understand (after I got bit and looked it up) the tick really needs to be dug in for about 24-48 hours to cause a problem. So it’s more like the tick is giving you an infection, and in the course of that passing on these terrible diseases (sometimes).

One thing to note about getting ticks tested is that your local health authority might provide no-cost tick testing.

This is the case here in Ottawa:

http://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/public-health-topics/lym...

Unfortunately we know all about this because our dog got bit, got Lyme disease (even though she was on the preventative medications), then developed a rare complication (heart condition). It's really made going out on the trails a less fun experience when worrying about ticks.

At least in my whereabouts, tick testing is no longer used. They said chance of false negative is too high. On top of that, bad tick doesn't mean you're infected. Two stages blood test is only fool proof way to test for Lyme.

Can confirm that ticks need time to give you Lyme. I've had Lyme twice. Both times I missed a tick on initial check and found it a day later. I get bitten few times a year and every time I find them on time all is good.

Do you build up any kind of immunity after repeated exposure?

It's a bacterial infection, so I believe immunity just doesn't last as long as it does for e.g. chicken pox. The vaccine, when it was available, recommended rather short intervals between boosters.

Nope. On the bright side, the treatment is easy if it's not neglected . There's little chance of any residual too.

> Nantucket, which is like ground zero for Lyme

It's pretty close. Only ~150km from Plum Island.

>I’m from Massachusetts and spend a lot of time on Nantucket, which is like ground zero for Lyme (lots of deer, no predators).

Give a 100% discount on ferry tickets to anyone with a valid hunting license during deer season. The problem will solve itself. The people with money don't care what the locals shoot up over the winter. I don't see why they care what the locals shoot over the winter.

Quick story for 10 years of friend's Doctor visits which did not diagnose a Lyme infection - insufficient CDC guidelines:

Friend has had increasingly difficult health problems - mistook for thyroid issues - neurological issues (difficulty standing), thinning, pain, very scary stuff. Lyme swelling around nerves in brain, I believe was the explanation. Could not work. Finally diagnosed and undergoing months of traumatic antibiotic treatments involving a "heart port" :P is improving now, back working.

Tick bite in New York.

As someone who lives in the North East and loves the outdoors, hearing stories like this scares me.

mistook for thyroid issues -- Tick bite in New York

Unfortunately it wasn't, but this should have been a major warning sign. There's still a lot of education to do. Almost the number one thing related to ticks I was taught by people from nature organisations is: if you know you had a tick bite, and you feel anything seriously out of order (of which the chances are still fairly small btw), check with a doctor; and if that doctor does not come up with anything tick-related (which happens, 10 years ago I also thought Lyme disease was the only bad thing which was spread by ticks), then get a second opinion from a doctor who has experience with most cases occurring in your area.

In your friend's situation, did he or she not notice the tick? Or is it just that the Doctor didn't correlate the tick bite to Lyme?

I have an aunt on disability after a false negative for Lyme left her searching for answers over a decade. She has heart damage, blood pressure and cognitive issues. It was devastating.

Lyme disease is unpleasant, but at least North America doesn't have Russia's tick-borne encephalitis, which kills or causes permanent neurological damage.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick-borne_encephalitis

Luckily there is a vaccine for this

Lyme disease can also kill and cause neurological damage.

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever has case fatality rates well above 50%, can cause multi-organ system failure, and has a 20% hospitalization rate even when treated.

It's transmitted in many of the same places Lyme is.

Ticks are widespread in Central Europe, but if you are cautious things are usually safe: wear long pants if you are in the woods, especially in summertime. No Flip flops. After you come home, check your entire body for ticks, it takes up to 24h to get Lyme. Have a tick card on you all the time, one like this: https://www.amazon.de/Zeckenkarte-mit-Lupe-Kurzbeschreibung-...

Thanks for pointing out tick cards to me. For those in Canada MEC has one [1] which is half the price of the same card on Amazon.

[1] https://www.mec.ca/en/product/5050-423/Tick-Remover-Card

One of the side effects of the fire ant problem in Texas is that they have significantly reduced the tick population. I have heard more than one person mention how they no longer find ticks after having been out in the woods, fields, etc.

Here is a page that talks about fire ants and some quotes:

https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/beneficials/be...

"Fire ants voraciously consume populations of fleas, ticks, termites, cockroaches, chinch bugs, mosquito eggs and larva, scorpions, etc.—after learning this, I realize that it really has been years since I last set off a flea bomb. A non-overstated culinary creed for fire ants could be the following: If it will stay still for a bit . . . then it's dinner!"

"Although fire ants are a big challenge to keep under control, one of the benefits of having the fire ants around (at least in East Texas) is that they kill ticks. If you have ever spent any time in the Piney Woods of East Texas, you understand how valuable that can be to you, your dogs and your livestock."

Perhaps we need more opossums (in north america at least). One of those suckers can eat 5000 ticks in a year.

http://www.caryinstitute.org/newsroom/opossums-killers-ticks

Interestingly enough it seems to be poorly recognised in France. (according to my personal experience, would love to hear more feedback)

I have two members of my family fighting to get diagnostic even though they both got bitten where here in the UK it doesn't seem to be a problem at all.

After reading this comment thread, i can attest that it's clearly not known enough in france indeed. From what i've read before (because i knew about Lyme), the only region affected by Lyme is nord-east of the country. We get tick bites whenever we go to south of France with my family, but so far nobody every got anything looking like Lyme.

Happy to not have Lymes but I'm on year 3 of being allergic to meat that comes from hoofed animals (alpha-gal) because of a tick bite. I go out a lot less now but when I do I also use Permethrin.

Sorry to hear—my sister is in the same boat with alpha-gal from a lone star tick. It seems that very few people are aware of it.

Wow, I've heard about meat allergies from ticks but I didn't realize they were common enough for 2 people on HN to have them. Permethrin really is amazing, isn't it?

If CRISPR can be used to eradicate malaria-carrying mosquitoes, then maybe it will help to eradicate ticks

Assuming we could do this, what would be the downside to eradicating all ticks?

Read on my friend : https://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/science/would-eradicat...

“ Diseases like these weed out sick or infirm individuals in the host population”

“Taken with other factors, like predation, “it might keep host populations within the carrying capacity of the land,” he said, possibly by reducing overgrazing and other forms of destruction to vegetation.”

When you find a tick, make sure to take the necessary precautions. I know someone who could've carried it with him for as much as 72 hours before discovery, and who didn't go to the doctor. He ended up with lyme.

Whereas if he had gotten antibiotics right after he'd probably have been okay.

It is also important to note that removing ticks quickly reduces the chances of contracting Lyme Disease. This means having a good and thorough tick check routine when outdoors is important. It is annoying after a long day of hiking or what not, but very important.

Always check for ticks after spending time outdoors in the summer. Here's a tip: if you have body hair, use your hands to check in addition to your eyes. It's easier to feel them than it is to see them.

My personal experience is: After spending time outdoors, get a shower and a complete clothes change. They often don't bite right away but crawl around for some time until they find a spot they "like".

Also, the lore that was told in my family was, that ticks dropped from trees in the forest. But you can get them also from gras, hedges, bushes. So not being in the wood is no protection against ticks.

Yes, they will definitely keep climbing on you until they find a 'good spot'. The bite is also usually painless, so they can often hang on unnoticed for hours or days (iirc, they inject a numbing agent, as getting noticed kind of ends their life cycle).

I read an article that described their basic algorithm as climb to the top of whatever they are on, blade of grass, shrub branch, etc., and just hang out there waving their arms until something brushes by and they snag it, then climb again until they find a good spot.

In New England, I've had to get in the habit of immediately dropping the clothes in the wash, showering, and then diligently checking the whole body for tics after a run, mtn bike, or hike. And I still occasionally find one hours later. The good thing is that they don't really inject the disease until they've been attached and biting for 24 hours or so and are mostly engorged.

Definitely a hazard to be diligent about!

[edt: spelling]

In your experience, can a tick attach to you if you just brush against it while moving fast (running or cycling)? They're rather slow-moving, so I thought they can't latch onto you that quickly.

I've had ticks attach themselves to me cycling off road in Scotland when it was very rough and I was cycling slowly through quite thick and very wet undergrowth on an old unused track.

Edit: I had no idea Lyme Disease was a risk here:

http://www.ticscotland.org.uk/incidence

YES, especially to any fabric such as socks, shorts, etc. seem especially good for them to snag, considering the number of times I've caught them crawling up a leg or something. I'd guess less so against a shaved leg or something, but still check diligently, since shoes, socks, etc.

Running is probably an ideal speed for them to snag you (think how they'd be snagging deer, dogs, etc), and I've never found biking fast enough to not get them. It seems like they don't grab by any reflex, but just by hanging a few hooks out in the breeze to snag whatever comes by.

Another thing I found that I didn't expect -- I'd guessed that they'd be most active in hotter weather, making motion easier, etc., but it seems that the most active times are moderate temps, maybe 10-25C (50-77F), but we still need to watch out outside of that range. I've seen them all the way down to almost freezing and up in the 30C+/90F+ range.

> And I still occasionally find one hours later

On yourself even after taking a shower, or in your clothes that you threw into the wash?

They're everywhere. I play golf in Massachusetts and basically refuse to go hunting for a ball that's in fescue because that tall grass is loaded with ticks. I'll take a damn penalty if I'm playing seriously or just drop a fresh ball if playing for practice. A golf ball and game isn't worth the risk of lifelong infection.

Also check your dog after they've been in woods or tall grass.

It may be a fashion faux-pas, but tucking your pant cuffs into your socks when in a tick infested area will make them easier to spot and pull off.

Doesn't help if you wear shorts or go barefoot of course

I have gone through the article, suprisingly, there was no data to backup claim that "the ticks are comming". Is that a real threat or just a mere speculation?

I couldn't find the name of the author of the article, just to make sure it is someone who knows something about health problems.

Lack of data plus IStock photos suggest that the research behind the article might not have been very thorough. For instance it would be interesting to learn what persentage of ticks carries bacteria dangerous for people, how the number of people infected was changing over the past years, etc.

It's been a while since swine flu and africanized honeybees. They need a new threat!

While the article is focused on transfer of various pathogens from ticks to humans, there is also a risk of developing and allergy to mammalian meat:

http://www.mydr.com.au/allergy/mammalian-meat-allergy

There is evidence of similar allergies occurring in the US and Europe due to tick bite.

So it is very important that you remove a tick carefully to minimise the potential for the tick to vomit. Permethrin creams (used to treat scabies) can be used for small/juvenile ticks.

One summer, during an outing, I remember trying to remove a tick with tweezers, leaving the head in and having to use a pen knife to remove it. At the time I did not (or ignored) about Lyme disease, so in my mind it do not warranted a trip to the doctor.

Reading all the comments on this thread make me glad I don't spend as much time as before in place where ticks are present.

For the uninformed, what's the proper way to remove a tick these days? When I was younger I heard advice to put a flame or extinguished match near the tick until it unlatches, but I've also heard that that's a bad idea because it causes them to emit some irritant into your body or something to that effect. What's the correct way?

That's terrible advice. The flame will cause the tick to unlatch, but it can also cause it to vomit, giving you any pathogens it's carrying.

The correct way is to take tweezers, side on grasping the top and bottom of the head and pull gently straight up (perpendicularly from the surface of your skin). Be patient. Taking a few minutes to do it right is better than rushing; you have about 24 hours before any significant risk of infection. Make sure you identify the head first and grasp that, as sometimes the head is buried. If you grab the body, you'll just decapitate the tick by pulling.

I spent a couple of years in Chile in some poorer parts of Santiago and I saw lots of ticks on lots of street dogs. I was outside much of the day and yet I never got a tick. I kind of wonder if the dogs being a plentiful and easy target resulted in the ticks just not trying with humans.

I'm reading the comments about people spraying their yards for ticks and I'm astonished. I've been bit by hundreds of ticks throughout my life. My wife has never been bit and has a terrible fear of them. But for me it was just growing up in the woods. You went out and when you got back you pulled a few off your ankles and back. Now that I live in suburbia its much rarer but even when it does happen I just remove the tick and move on. I've never thought to seek medical treatment for it.

I have hard time guessing if You are serious or just trolling. Lyme disease is no joke. It can destroy Your life. And first real symptoms often comes when damages done to nervous system are irreversible. My father had it and and lost ability to concentrate when reading text longer than one page. Son of my uncle almost died from it when he was 18. Even if You think You are healthy, You should test Yourself.

I know I'm healthy. There have been 420 confirmed cases of Lyme disease in Tennessee over the past 15 years. One person for every 250,000 will get infected in a given year. And even then, those people will only get infected if they leave the tick on themselves for 48 hours. Shower once daily and you're fine.

But let's pretend the tick is infected and the tick feeds for 48 hours. Take some antibiotics and you're fine. Lyme disease is stupidly easy to treat. And no it does not come upon you suddenly. There's a huge rash that covers the infected area.

I'm sorry for what happened to your father and uncle's son. Truly, I am. More awareness should be raised about Lyme disease. You don't need to fear it or spray your yards. If you see the rash go to a doctor.

It seems that Your country's ticks are way better than mine. I would gladly swap. According to my countrys newspapers (Im from Poland) there were at least 10000 confirmed cases of lyme last year. The main reason is that almost 40 percent of ticks here is infected. And the rash is optional. You can contract the disease and have first sympthoms after 10 years. But this is rather rare.

I see. I assumed you were American. I'll keep your words in mind if I visit Europe!

I don't think he's trolling. Lyme disease is no joke, but contracting Lyme from a tick bite is rare:

While many people are concerned after being bitten by a tick, the risk of acquiring a tick-borne infection is quite low, even if the tick has been attached, fed, and is actually carrying an infectious agent. Ticks transmit infection only after they have attached and then taken a blood meal from their new host. A tick that has not attached (and therefore has not yet become engorged from its blood meal) has not passed any infection. Since the deer tick that transmits Lyme disease typically feeds for >36 hours before transmission of the spirochete, the risk of acquiring Lyme disease from an observed tick bite, for example, is only 1.2 to 1.4 percent, even in an area where the disease is common.

I am currently going through Lyme & Bartonella treatment from a tick bite in northern Michigan last summer. I've been to multiple doctors, had multiple blood panels and blood tests(Lyme, Bartonella, Babesia, Erlichia, etc). I wanted to share what I've learned in hopes that it helps others. This is what I've learned (it's kind of lengthy):

- Lyme exists everywhere on Earth as delivered by avian/mice/tick/deer/animal populations and it is adept at survival in many hosts for a long time. These tick bacteria are very adept at subverting portions of a hosts immune system to maintain their existence in the host. Healthier or adapted hosts can clear the bacteria, in all forms, easier that immuno compromised hosts.

- Ticks can transmit Lyme within 10 minutes of feeding depending on the blood circulation from the host and saliva transmit rates. Co-infections like Bartonella (24+ strains), Babesia, Erlichia happen in a very large percentage of bites. The 'bullseye rash' may or may not appear depending on Lyme strain, the host immune system, and how the two interact.

- Lyme feeds on collagen is ubiquitous in the body, that is why symptoms can occur everywhere and sporadically depending on immune response (local and systemic). Lyme uses Manganese to facilitate it's "feeding process" (Stanford has a in-vitro study on Claritin which disrupts Manganese in this mechanism). I've had brain fog, slight dizziness, eye film, tendon inflammation (ankles/elbows/hands), sore neck/shoulders, streaked rashes (bartonella), all sporadic.

- 6 weeks after tick bite, I successfully diagnosed myself with Lyme and Bartonella. This took 3+ months for a handful of doctors and blood tests before doctors agreed. (Listen to your body, but don't go nuts and overexagerate ;-). See below

- A dermatologist prescribed 1 200 mg 1 week after my tick bite roughly following CDC guidelines (useless). ~17 days after tick bite a 100 fever with severe achilles tendon inflammation (painful almost ruptured). Started 3 week Doxycycline 100 mg (2x day) from Urgent care doctor. ELISA, Western Blot IgG, IgM both negative (summary only, no antibody blots provided). Some brain fog improvement on Doxycycline. 2 week flares of my achilles tendon issues while on Doxycycline. Doxycycline extended to 5 weeks with no improvement. My primary care doctor said 3 weeks cleared it up, remaining symptoms were from something else (I dropped that dr). Next internist did more blood tests and suspected something. Out of pocket Igenex (out of pocket) test at 2 months indicate negative Lyme, with trace amounts of 3 Lyme specific antibody stains and 1 antibody shared with chlamydia. Infectious Disease doctor at 2 month mark said I was cured and that they would only treat symptoms caused by unknown with rheumatologist and neurologist with pharmaceuticals. Infectious Disease dr ignored my Bartonella claim due to ankle tendon pain and a week later ignored my email photo of Bartonella specific rash. I timed another set of Bartonella tests with my primary care (new) at 3 months and a peak in my symptom cycle. An insurance covered PCR (dna) test was negative while out of pocket Igenex Bartonella FISH (antigen) test that I found and asked the doctor to submit, was positive from blood samples taken that time/arm. My primary care y is striving to learn more about Lyme now and admitted the CDC was incorrect. I started acupuncture and Chinese medicine 3+ months in and it makes a difference. I finally saw a Lyme doctor 4+ months after the bite (I was on the waiting list for 2 months), I am getting additional western herbal treatment in combination with Chinese herbals. Things are improving but I get occassional spikes in symptoms (all over), which is usually what people are hampered by during treatment (antibiotics and/or herbal). Sadly, my case history is less severe compared to many.

- Lyme testing (antibody/dna/antigen) via blood is problematic because the bacteria prefers to feed on collagen tissue and is rarely hanging out in the blood flow. The CDC, per Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA), recommends a garbage test first (ELISA - inconsistent results from same blood draw). The Western Blot results are often summarized instead of displaying entire results (it ignores Lyme specific antibodies related to defunct vaccination that almost nobody received). USE Igenex (Palo Alto), Galaxy Labs, or dnaconnexions for more reliable results (still not guaranteed).

- Lyme vaccination would be extremely difficult since the bacteria can change its outer surface protein (OSP) depending on host and location within the host. Vaccination antibodies work against these proteins. The Lyme vaccination from the mid 1990s targeted protein 34 and 1 other OspA (I cannot remember). Both of these antibodies ARE IGNORED by the CDC Western Blot test unless you used a lab with more expertise.

- The CDC and Infectious Disease doctors ignore millions of clinical observations and real world treatments in favor of small studies subject to selection bias (see uptodate.com and read through the studies). ILADS doctors, herbalists, and Chinese medicine/acupuncture actually treat chronic patients and their clinical perspective and evidences is often discarded as non-scientific by the CDC (which is bullshit, this data is all relevant). The CDC does not emphasize and has spent almost no resources to iteratively address the shortcomings in their positions and improve poor testing.

- Because of poor testing and misinformation from the CDC, many people are misdiagnosed with MS, Dementia, arthritis, Alzheimers, etc and I've met a number of them in my limited circle of contacts. Kris Kristoferson's case is very common. For example, brain autopsies of beta-amyloid deposits (Alzheimers), have many of these bacteria in them. In short, antibiotics are not sufficient to clear the bacteria in ~100,000+ cases per year (lots of studies and clinical cases showing antibiotics won't work). Many people are prescribed steroids or other immune suppressing pharmaceuticals, or associated 'medicines' for neurological conditions (I was pushed to a rheumatologist).

- Treatment: Chinese herbal, Western herbal, some antibiotic, vitamin supplements, acupuncture, intermittent water fasting (16-24 hours helps me with herxing or bacteria die off). Fasting also helps with autophagy and neutrophil trap activity (neither one of those works well with sugar in the system).

- Improvements: awareness, better bacteria testing, better blood panels to track immune state at regular intervals throughout life (cytokine, chemokine, interferon, etc), more awareness of treatment options (pharmaceutical and/or herbal). EDUCATION and EMPATHY should be major goals of any doctor.

- Resources: www.ilads.org, "Healing Lyme" by Buhner, Lyme Literate Doctors, and own/friends/family experience.

- key points: listen to your body, educate yourself, be your own advocate, be open to treatment approaches, strengthening your immune system is always the best option (some genetic abnormalities aside)

"May be"? "Next"? Where have these guys been the last several years? I'd say under a rock, but ticks might be there too. Out in space, perhaps?

The article is somewhat alarmist, behavior modification can greatly limit the risk of ticks. This might be something that is more alarming in the UK for some reason if they haven't had to worry about it so far?

I live in Massachusetts, pretty close to ground central for Lyme's disease.

I've been mountain biking, hiking, doing outdoor photography, etc.. most of my life and have never managed to get bit by a tick and contract it. I've found 5 ticks or so in that time have always found them before they could bite me just because I was aware of the risk. And that's talking hundreds of days per year of outdoor activities.

Tall grass is high risk. Taking your sweet time golfing is risky. Riding your mountain bike through grass at 20mph is much less risky. You'd tend to be riding on a trail too, even if it's not more than 6" wide, it still somewhat reduces the surface for the ticks to cling to. Having a job like being a surveyor is very high risk since they're out in the grass working and not moving quickly.

Once you get under major tree cover (we have lots of it) the undergrowth tends to thin out and you'll contact less grass/leaves and have less exposure to ticks grabbing onto you. This is perhaps one of the reasons you hear a lot about people getting Ticks down on Cape Code if they're exploring tall grass environments, there is less dense tree cover on the Cape compared to the mainland.

By far the riskiest thing anecdotally seems to be owning a dog. Dogs love to go walk through the high grass, ticks love to grab onto their fur. Then they bring the ticks into your car, into your house, sit on your lap. When you walk your dog you tend to go where the dog wants to go within reason. And you're walking, so you're moving at speeds ticks are happy with. So you're perhaps walking areas you wouldn't walk alone if you're wary of ticks. It seems like practically every dog owner I know regularly deals with ticks brought in by dogs, and a lot of the dog owners have actually gotten Lyme's disease, some more than once! You'll hear stories of 10 ticks on a dog coming back from a walk.

If I guess I've found 5 on me in 25 years of outdoor activities 1 was biking in/around tall grass on Cape Cod (found it on my leg), 1 was walking in North Carolina (found it on my sock), 1 was brought into the house by a dog (the only deer tick of the 5). Not sure of the others, maybe 5 is generous.

The article also doesn't mention how certain activities can be done in different months to limit risk. Particularly deer tick are much harder to spot if you are out in risky areas in the early spring. They're super small at that point. But later in the summer they're grown and easy to spot.

For me that super high risk deer tick season where they are immature coincides with mud season. We are already discouraged from hiking & biking through the mud, so the double whammy of peak tick season + mud season makes it easy to select outdoor activities that are lower risk at that time of year.

It's just really hard to take the article seriously, this just is not going to be a risk for people who live in big cities and spend little time in natural environments, particularly if they also don't have pets. That covers a lot of the population.

How is this hacker news?

Nasty, nasty things. They've really exploded in the past ten years or so in New England. When I was a kid, you never had to worry about checking for ticks when you went outside and roamed around - you'd get chewed to death by blackflies, mosquitos and copperheads, but that's relatively harmless.

Last summer, one incident I had to pull a couple hundred off my dog after she wandered into a particularly bad section of the willowwacks. Just awful little beasties.

I read an article in New Scientist a year or two ago about these. They were talking about counting the acorns on the ground as a predictor as to Lyme disease in two years time. Quite an interesting article overall.

I read the physical magazine but think that https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23431195-800-lyme-dis... is the same article.

Global threat? Not exactly. You know where there aren't any ticks? The desert. No fleas or bed bugs, either.

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