Upstate New York Ticks are More Hungry and Aggressive This Year

Ticks are coming out of winter hibernation and are in search of blood like a pack of hungry zombies searching for brains. Sorry to go all Walking Dead there, but a hoard of zombies and a hoard of ticks are kinda the same when you think about it.

As more people are getting back to our warmer weather outside activities that means there are more human and tick interactions that could result in you getting very sick. Humans and ticks emerge from winter hibernation at about the same time. We had a cold, snowy winter that kept the tick population covered in thick snow and that means they weren't able to feed during that time. Plus, with a warmer than usual spring in Upstate New York, we will have more aggressive and hungry ticks than we usually do.

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So, it's going to be another bad tick year. What do we do to keep from being a delicious meal for a hungry tick? Staying away from high grass and woods because ticks thrive in shade and moisture. Even when doing yardwork you should wear long pants to cover your delicious (to a tick)  ankles. If you are in an area where ticks might be... and it seems like they are everywhere....spray your clothes and skin with insect/tick repellent, and check your body for ticks frequently. For even more fun, check your partner's skin for ticks.

If you do find ticks on you, your partner, or your pet send them into the Upstate tick lab. They will test the ticks you send in for a bunch of diseases and add the results to their database. Then you can see if you've been in contact with an infected tick.

Everyone knows that ticks can carry Lyme disease, but there are several diseases that Upstate New York ticks carry including anaplasmosis, babesiosis and the newly emerging myamotoi.