As of this spring, an invasive tick species, the Asian longhorned tick, has unfold to Illinois. USDA says the species is now identified within the following U.S. states and districts:
- Arkansas
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kentucky
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Missouri
- New Jersey
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Pennsylvania
- Tennessee
- Virginia
- West Virginia
- Washington, D.C.
The Asian longhorned tick might have been current within the U.S. as early as 2010, regardless that researchers first recognized it in 2017. Since then, it’s been spreading to extra areas within the jap half of the nation.
The CDC says this invasive tick species seems to be much less drawn to people than another native ticks, just like the blacklegged tick. One examine cited by the CDC suggests Asian longhorned ticks are “not prone to contribute to the unfold of Lyme illness micro organism in the USA,” which is sweet information. Nonetheless, one other examine discovered that the species can carry and unfold different illnesses, equivalent to Rocky Mountain noticed fever.
How you can Be Tick Secure This Summer time
The CDC says ticks want “wooded and brushy areas with excessive grass and leaf litter.” Sadly, tick territory may embody nearly anyplace open air, so it’s greatest to be proactive, even in case you’re not in a wooded space.
The perfect methods to stop tick bites embody:
- Carrying protecting clothes, together with long-sleeved shirts, lengthy pants, and socks to attenuate uncovered pores and skin.
- Utilizing insect repellent, particularly these containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535, Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus (OLE), para-menthane-diol (PMD), or 2-undecanone.
- Checking your physique, clothes, and kit for ticks after being open air, and being thorough about it. (You’ll want to examine tough areas in your physique, just like the hairline, underarms, groin, and behind the knees.)
- Treating clothes, gear, and pets with tick-prevention merchandise earlier than getting into tick territory. For clothes and kit, you may think about pre-treating with permethrin, however this substance is “a weak carcinogen” and ought to be used with warning.
- Cleansing your physique after out of doors actions. The CDC’s recommendation is to bathe inside two hours of an outside exercise to scrub off any ticks which have hitched a trip in your physique however haven’t bitten you but.
If You Discover a Tick
In case you discover a tick in your physique, whether or not it’s hooked up or not, get it off as quickly as doable—however ideally not by swiping it off and leaving it to chunk another person . . . and positively not by crushing it, as a result of that may infect you too. You possibly can kill or include a stay tick by placing it in rubbing alcohol, putting it in a sealed bag, wrapping it in tape, or flushing it down a bathroom.
In case you discover a tick that’s hooked up to your pores and skin, use a pair of tweezers or a tick-removal machine to understand the tick and pull it off (in case you’re utilizing a tick-removal machine, observe the producer’s directions). In case you’re utilizing tweezers, take care to not twist as you pull, as a result of the mouth elements of the tick may break off and keep hooked up to your pores and skin.
After eradicating the tick, the CDC says the next step ought to be cleansing the world and your palms with cleaning soap and water or rubbing alcohol.
