If a tick is on you or a pet, remove it immediately to reduce contracting a tickborne disease. Using tweezers, remove it at the head using steady pressure in an upward motion. Do not twist or jerk the tick to avoid breaking off the mouth and leaving any tick part in the skin. In California ticks are ready to bite year-round, but there are peak periods for some ticks in certain stages of their life cycle.
Winter happens to be when the adult ticks that can cause Lyme disease are most active. In in Sonoma and Marin counties, about 1. In addition to backyards, Sonoma Valley has thousands of acres of open space where the little buggers live, and given that the lifecycle of some ticks may be up to three years, ample time for one to latch onto a bare human leg or a dog shoulder passing by.
They cannot fly or jump so they climb onto passing hosts that brush by. Nymph or immature ticks are often found in leaf litter or logs, and adult ticks frequent tall grasses. The three most commonly-encountered ticks in Sonoma Valley are the western black-legged tick — also called deer tick Ixodes pacificus — American dog tick Dermacenter variabilis , and Pacific Coast tick Dermacenter occidentalis , according to vector control.
Deer ticks are active October through July, with adult activity peaking in the winter and nymphs peaking in the spring. Hard ticks, such as the deer tick, emerge from eggs as larvae with six legs and seek a host for its first blood meal.
After it feeds it molts into the nymphal stage and acquires eight legs and again seeks a host, feeds and molts again into the adult stage. This final stage requires another blood meal after which adult females drop off and lay a batch of thousands of eggs.
Then she dies. The length of time a hard tick feeds varies from several days to weeks depending on life stage, host type and species of tick. Summer is also particularly dangerous for Lyme disease because that's when people spend the most time outside, and many of the most beautiful hiking areas tend to be tick-ridden.
Most people associate Lyme disease with the Northeastern U. The overall abundance of Lyme ticks is relatively low on the West Coast; however, the risk is spread unevenly. Hikers can move from high-risk area to a low-risk area and never know it. Part of what puts Californians at risk is a lack of awareness -- among the public and even among doctors. Much of the research and public health information is based on east coast ecology and may not apply to the West. About cases of Lyme disease are reported in California each year, but according to Supervising Public Health Biologist Kerry Padgett of the state Department of Public Health, the disease is likely more widespread.
Lyme disease is caused by a microscopic spiral-shaped bacteria called borrelia burgdorferi. On the west coast, these Lyme disease-causing bacteria live inside the guts of the western blacklegged tick and can travel into the blood streams of bitten animals.
Ticks generally live for two or three years. They are born Lyme-free, and will contract or transmit Lyme during feeding, once during each of their three life stages. The process can take as little as 24 hours. Tweet 6. Bartonella ImmunoBlots Now Available!
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Please try again. A person may become infected with the bacteria that causes Lyme disease when bitten by an infected western black-legged tick. As the number of tick borne diseases continues to increase, the first line of defense for all these diseases is taking precautions to avoid tick bites.
Tuck your pants into your boots or socks, and tuck your shirt into your pants. Always read and follow the label directions when applying repellents. Check with your veterinarian for appropriate tick control products. The University of Wisconsin has a free mobile app, The Tick App , to assist with tick identification, which is available through your app store.
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