Tick danger rising as officials report high rates of disease-carrying ticks this summer
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station says it's a bad year because they are already seeing one of the highest rates of disease-carrying ticks on record.
More Stories
Just ahead of your outdoor summer plans, state officials say this is expected to be a bad year for ticks.
Officials at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station say it's a bad year because they are already seeing one of the highest rates of disease-carrying ticks on record. And that includes a jump in trips to the emergency room with tick bites.
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station says it has received more than 3,700 ticks to its lab—150 a day. That's higher than last year and more than 2017, which was the highest number on record. They say 40 percent of those ticks have tested positive for Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases.
They say the reason we are seeing so many ticks—even different species along the coast—is because of climate change.
"The impact of climate change unfortunately has gone beyond the point that a single cold weather event could reduce the number of ticks that we have in the region," said Dr. Goudarz Molaei of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven.
The CDC says the best way to avoid ticks is to stay out of tall grass, wear protective clothing treated with tick pesticides and check yourself and your pets for ticks before coming indoors.
