\u201cTick populations are expanding geographically because we\u2019re changing the climate,\u201d explains Vett Lloyd, a professor of biology at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick who studies ticks and the pathogens they transmit.<\/p>\n
Milder winters and warmer summers raise ticks\u2019 survival rates. Additionally, human expansion \u2013 especially \u201cmowing down forests and living in suburbs on previously forested land\u201d \u2013 has expanded tick habitat dramatically, explains Lloyd.<\/p>\n
Experts say that suburbs mean more prime habitat for mice, who thrive eating our garbage and harbor dangerous pathogens in their blood, like Lyme disease. More mice support more ticks, who feast on rodents as well as booming deer populations, lizards, birds and other creatures. Ticks can transmit diseases they pick up to human hosts. US rates of Lyme disease were 69%<\/a> higher in 2022 compared with the 2017-2019 annual average. In England, cases of Lyme rose over 20%<\/a> between 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cThe pathogens are expanding almost exclusively because of human changes in how we live in the environment,\u201d says Lloyd.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what you need to know to protect yourself from ticks.<\/p>\n How do you check for ticks?<\/p>\n \u201cTicks have a relatively boring life,\u201d says Lloyd. They hang out in moist, dark and shaded areas like leaf litter. When hungry, they crawl up blades of grass, where they wait to brush on to anything tasty that walks past, she says.<\/p>\n If a tick reaches your body, it typically climbs upward, seeking a dark, damp area, like the backs of knees, navel, groin, armpits or behind the ears, says Lloyd. There, they bite, injecting an anesthetic that prevents you from feeling pain or itchiness as they dig in.<\/p>\n The best time to find a tick is before it bites. \u201cIt can\u2019t give you a disease if it hasn\u2019t started drinking your blood,\u201d says Lloyd. Showering immediately after spending time outdoors may wash a tick off before it has a chance to latch.<\/p>\n Perform a tick check after being outdoors. This can be done alone with a mirror, and by lightly running your hands all over your body. Unfed ticks will feel like bumps the size of a poppy seed or a sesame seed. A fed tick can swell to the size of a blueberry. If you\u2019re comfortable with it, another person can help with the search.<\/p>\n The longer a tick feeds, the more likely it is to spread disease. Removing a tick before it\u2019s been on you for 24 hours greatly reduces<\/a> the risk of disease transmission, per the CDC.<\/p>\n What should you do if you\u2019ve been bitten by a tick?<\/p>\n \u201cYou want to try to get the whole tick out,\u201d says Dr Charlotte Mao, a pediatric infectious disease physician who works with the Bay Area Lyme Foundation. Mao recommends using \u201cfine tip tweezers with firm gentle pressure\u201d to grasp the tick at its head and pull it up. \u201cYou want to try to not have the mouth parts break off and stay stuck in the skin.\u201d<\/p>\n Wash the bite site and your hands thoroughly with soap and water or rubbing alcohol, she says.<\/p>\n Trying to remove it is better than leaving it in, even if you don\u2019t get the tick out perfectly. \u201cWhile the tick is on you, it can be transmitting pathogens,\u201d notes Lloyd. \u201cThe mouth parts are organic; they will eventually dissolve, and the part of the tick that contains the pathogens is all in [its] body,\u201d she says. If you accidentally \u201cpop\u201d the tick, wash your hands well and disinfect the bite site, as these fluids can spread disease.<\/p>\n Both Mao and Lloyd suggest saving the tick in a Ziploc bag in your freezer, noting the date and geographic location it was found, if possible.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Well Actually<\/p>\n Practical advice, expert insights and answers to your questions about how to live a good life<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not your ideal souvenir,\u201d says Lloyd, but if you begin to exhibit flu-like symptoms, facial drooping, severe headaches or any other worrisome new health issues in the month after your bite, you can get it tested. The Bay Area Lyme Foundation\u2019s website offers a list<\/a> of laboratories that perform tick testing, some by mail. In the UK, you can mail your tick to the government\u2019s Tick Surveillance Scheme<\/a> to help researchers map tick habitat, or to international<\/a> tick test labs.<\/p>\n Consult your primary care provider after a bite, Mao says. They may give you an antibiotic prophylaxis \u2013 typically a single dose of doxycycline \u2013 to protect against Lyme, as well as other diseases commonly caused by ticks, like anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. However, there are some tick-borne illnesses that cannot be treated with antibiotics, says Lloyd. These include alpha-gal<\/a>, an allergy to red meat and other animal products, and babesiosis, a parasitic infection that causes flu-like symptoms and jaundice. If you notice any strange symptoms in the weeks after your tick bite, talk to a doctor right away.<\/p>\n If you identify an expanding solid red or bullseye-shaped rash near the site of your bite, this may be a sign of early Lyme disease<\/a>. Your doctor may give you a longer course of antibiotics: one to two weeks, depending on the advice of your regional health authority.<\/p>\n Is there any way to prevent getting bitten by a tick?<\/p>\n To reduce your risk of tick bites, the CDC recommends wearing Environmental Protection Agency-approved insect repellants such as Deet or picaridin, long-sleeved shirts, long pants and closed shoes, and tumble-drying clothing on high after returning home to kill any lingering ticks. Stick to the open middle of trails while hiking rather than getting too close to brush or leaf litter.<\/p>\n Ticks aren\u2019t only a threat to hikers and hunters; depending on where you live, you can be bitten by a tick in your own back yard, notes Erika Machtinger, a medical and veterinary entomologist.<\/p>\n Machtinger recommends a few strategies for making your outdoor space safer.<\/p>\n Cutting back vegetation to prevent big shady areas and mowing your lawn frequently to reduce grassy habitat are the simplest interventions, she says. Stone walls are attractive to rodents, and have been shown<\/a> to harbor high concentrations of ticks, says Machtinger. Seal up any nooks or replace them altogether.<\/p>\n \u201cThe single best way to manage ticks is with an acaricide,\u201d a tick-killing pesticide, Machtinger says.<\/p>\n Some homeowners are wary of the effect of acaricide on pollinators and other beneficial insects. A gentler, more targeted option is tick tubes: cardboard rolls stuffed with permethrin-treated cotton that mice discover and transport back to pad their nests, which basically treats them against ticks, Machtinger says.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782330911_688_500.jpg\")
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