Lyme Disease: How Tiny Buggers Can Cause a Big Problem

Written by Bethany O'Hagan, Stewardship & Rewilding

I want to talk about ticks, specifically blacklegged ticks that carry Lyme disease. Before moving here four years ago, I honestly didn’t think anything about ticks when I went outside in the Pacific Northwest. As an avid camper, gardener, walker of woods, bicyclist, fisherwoman, and overall outdoor enthusiast, ticks were never on my radar. Then I moved to Western NY. Before you move to a place it isn’t really something you try think to research, “hey google, are there any tiny bugs that could cause permanent life altering damage to your body even if you go outside for a few minutes?” I mean, I know about mosquitoes, I am from Alaska and they are pretty much the state bird up there. It just wasn’t something I thought to research while seeking a new home. Now here we are. My family and I all love this area. There is just one thing that I truly wish I would’ve known about. Ticks.

American Dog Tick with an outstretched leg, waiting for a host to brush against them. Photo by Judy Gallagher.

Ticks are a problem.

So why are they such a problem? Let’s defer to the professionals. A team of researchers led by the Yale School of Public Health has found that Lyme disease is ancient in North America and has been silently circulating in forests for at least 60,000 years, long before the disease was first described in 1976 in Lyme, Connecticut, and long before the arrival of humans. Yep, this ancient disease is named after a city, how quaint. “The ongoing Lyme disease epidemic was not sparked by a recent introduction of the bacterium or an evolutionary change—such as a mutation that made the bacterium more readily transmissible. It is tied to the ecological transformation of much of North America. Specifically, forest fragmentation and the population explosion of deer in the last century ha[s] created optimal conditions for the spread of ticks and triggered this ongoing epidemic” (Yale School of Medicine).

Lyme disease is most common in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, and upper-Midwest regions of the United States. While a doctoral student Katharine Walter at Yale School of Public Health describes, “the Lyme disease bacterium has long been endemic,” she said, “but the deforestation and subsequent suburbanization of much of New England and the Midwest created conditions for deer ticks—and the Lyme disease bacterium—to thrive.” Great, so just like Taylor Swift says, “hi, I’m the problem, it’s me,” we are the problem. These tiny little buggers have always been here, but with the removal of forests, an increase of suburban areas, the expansion of deer populations, and overall ecological changes have allowed deer ticks to fully invade human living spaces and run rampant.

Imagine this, you’re outside in your yard with your kids and dog enjoying a picnic. Or you’re pleasantly meandering one of our nature preserves on a Wine on the Trail walk. It’s likely that someone is coming indoors with a tick, either you, your children, or your dog. Maybe just crawling, maybe embedded. Don’t panic.

Follow these steps to keep yourself and your family safe after finding an engorged tick. If it is embedded and becomes engorged, try not to let it go unnoticed for 48 hours. Remove the tick by grasping it as close to the skin’s surface as possible using fine-tipped tweezers and pulling it straight out or use a tick remover. Be sure you remove the head. If you safely remove the tick within 24 hours of getting bitten, professionals advise that you may be in the clear. Monitor the bite and watch for the beginning symptoms of Lyme disease, such as: fever, headache, fatigue, and a characteristic bullseye shaped skin rash called erythema migrans. If left untreated, infection can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system. I have seen the long-term effects of Lyme disease on too many of my friends around here, and it does not look fun.

Erythema migrans rash is a common symptom that occurs in over 70 percent of people with Lyme disease. Graphic by U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Now knowing about the tick issue, it still wouldn’t have stopped my move across the country. Chautauqua County is a true gem and has so many amazing and beautiful outdoor spaces. Thankfully, there are Lyme disease vaccines for dogs, but nothing on the market currently for humans. Hopefully, in the near future, there could be some developments in Lyme vaccines for humans! Be safe out there. Wear tick repellent, stay vigilant, check yourself and your loved ones before going indoors, and to be extra cautious you can bath or shower after a day outside. Don’t let those buggers prevent you from have an incredible summer outdoors!

Everwild Land Trust is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to lead, inspire, and nurture collective stewardship of the life, lands, and waters of the Chautauqua region, uniting action, science, education, and community in perpetuity.