Getting ready for tick season

Winter ticks are killing moose in Maine and other New England states at alarming rates. Here’s a job I don’t want – tick counter. Researchers have found as many as 90,000 ticks on one animal.

In Maine, the estimated Moose population has fallen from 76,000 in 2014 to 60,000-70,000 in 2019.

Here’s how Winter ticks live:

Fall is considered their “questing” season. They climb up vegetation and look to attach to a host. Once they attach, they go through three active life stages (larvae, nymph, and adult) by taking a blood meal and feeding on the same animal. The ticks will feed and remain on one host during their subsequent molts until spring when adult females detach and drop to the ground.

Because they are shorter and closer to the vegetation, moose calves are more susceptible. During a three-year study in Canada, 170 moose calves were radio-collared; 125 of them died due to tick infestations. An average of 47,371 ticks were found on each of the calves, causing emaciation and blood loss.

Most adult moose survived but were still severely compromised. They were thin and anemic from losing so much blood. There dark coats were largely gone, with the light-colored skin below exposed – giving them the nickname “ghost moose.” The tick infestations appear to affect the animals’ reproductive health. Winter ticks rarely bite and feed on humans.

You’re saying, that’s too bad about the moose. But Winter ticks aren’t around here, plus that kind of tick doesn’t bite humans.

My answer to that is ... Yet.

Because here’s the thing about ticks. They are constantly mutating and evolving. Insecticides that killed them years ago don’t work now. Permethrin, long used by our military, is effective. Ticks known to cause one malady – such as the black-legged “deer” tick that carries Lyme disease – can carry additional diseases such as Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis and Powassan disease.

The lone star tick carries Ehrlichiosis. The American dog tick can transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Tularemia, and STARI, which stands for Southern Tick-associated rash illness, which has been found in the eastern U.S.

Not only do ticks constantly mutate and evolve, they can be extremely “portable.” Some researchers say ticks that carry various diseases may congregate in port cities, where in a skewed version of country mouse meets city mouse, mouse from another country meets city mouse.

An example is the tick that carries Powassan, a particularly deadly tick disease that causes encephalitis, an infection of the brain, and other neurological issues. It is named for the town where it was first identified, Powassan, Ontario, where it was identified in a young boy who died from it.

From 2006 through 2018, Powassan virus neuro-invasive disease cases showed up in Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachusetts – in port cities. But let’s just surmise that some of the freight offloaded in the port cities continues its journey by rail or truck. If you’d really like a fright, google the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and look at tick locations.

So, what’s the answer? When the weather breaks should we all just stay inside? The CDC recommends wearing clothing that is treated with Permethrin. It’s a little pricey – but consider the consequences. You can also treat clothing you already have with permethrin; step-be-step information is readily available on the web.

So, I’m not going to re-state what you already know about preventing tick bites and performing tick checks of your body. I’m just going to say, it’s really time to up your game. The ticks are here in vast numbers, all of them eagerly seeking a host.