Flea & Tick 5 step Program

Where found: Widely distributed in the northeastern and upper midwestern United States.

Transmits: Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and Powassan disease.

Comments: The greatest risk of being bitten exists in the spring, summer, and fall. However, adults may be out searching for a host any time winter temperatures are above freezing. Stages most likely to bite humans are nymphs and adult females.

Where found: Widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains. Also occurs in limited areas on the Pacific Coast.

Transmits: Tularemia and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

Comments: The highest risk of being bitten occurs during spring and summer. Dog ticks are sometimes called wood ticks. Adult females are most likely to bite humans.

Where found: Widely distributed in the southeastern and eastern United States.

Transmits: Tularemia, and STARI.

Comments: A very aggressive tick that bites humans. The adult female is distinguished by a white dot or “lone star” on her back. Lone star tick saliva can be irritating; redness and discomfort at a bite site does not necessarily indicate an infection. The nymph and adult females most frequently bite humans and transmit disease.

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT ASIAN LONGHORNED TICK

• Not normally found in the Western Hemisphere, these ticks were reported for the first time in the United States in 2017.
• Asian longhorned ticks have been found on pets, livestock, wildlife, and people.
• The female ticks can lay eggs and reproduce without mating.
• Up to thousands of ticks may be found at a time, or on an animal.
• In other countries, bites from these ticks can make people and animals seriously ill. As of August 1, 2019, no harmful germs that can infect people have been found in the ticks collected in the United States. Research is ongoing.
• Researchers are looking for these ticks to find out where they live.
• As of August 1, 2019, longhorned ticks have been found in Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.