In honor of Lyme Disease Awareness Month and in response to some misinformation about ticks on social media recently, we'd like to share some tick and Lyme disease facts.
- Ticks can spread several diseases to humans and pets, but Lyme disease is the most common. In California, Lyme disease is carried by the western blacklegged tick which occurs throughout the state.
- Lyme disease has been reported in most California counties, but some areas pose higher risks than others.
- You can protect yourself from ticks and the diseases they transmit by wearing long pants and long-sleeved shirts outdoors, using an EPA registered repellent with 20-30% DEET, or applying permethrin to clothing.
- Check yourself often after being outside in areas that are prone to ticks (forests, woodlands, and grasslands).
- Shower within 2 hours of exposure to ticks and place clothing in a hot dryer for an hour to kill any ticks that may be on them.
- Safely remove ticks with tweezers by grabbing the tick as close to the skin as possible and slowly pulling it out.
- The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) says to control ticks around your home, remove leaf and grass litter from your yard and create a 3-foot barrier of mulch or gravel between your lawn and unmanaged or forested areas.
For more information, see the UC IPM Pest Notes: Lyme Disease in California or visit the California Department of Public Health's website to learn more about:
Lyme disease is often associated with the northeastern and upper Midwestern areas of the United States. However, the disease has been found in some northern California counties, which means the risk of contracting the disease is possible in California.
Lyme disease can be transmitted to humans and pets through the bite of infected ticks. In California, the tick capable of transmitting Lyme disease is the western blacklegged tick.
When spending time outdoors in tick-infested areas, protect yourself and your family from ticks and Lyme disease by following these simple precautions:
- Wear long-sleeve pants and shirts. Tuck your shirt into your pants and your pant legs into socks.
- Perform tick checks frequently – inspect your clothing and exposed skin while outdoors and after you return, check your pets also.
- Remove any ticks before they can attach – pay special attention to the scalp, behind the ears, arms, and legs.
- Wash clothing and dry on a one-hour dryer cycle at high heat to kill any ticks that may have crawled onto clothing.
If you find a tick embedded in your skin, use tweezers to carefully pull it out.
Read more about Lyme disease, symptoms, and ticks by visiting the Pest Notes: Lyme Disease in California and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
Lyme disease can be transmitted to humans and pets in California from the bite of an infected western blacklegged tick. Lyme disease causes flu-like symptoms that left untreated, may progress to arthritic, neurologic, or cardiac problems. Incidences of Lyme disease have occurred in some northern California counties, with some counties posing a higher risk of contracting the disease than others..
There are several ways to protect yourself from Lyme disease. If you spend time outdoors in tick-infested areas, take these simple precautions:
- Wear full length-pants and long-sleeved shirts, and tuck your shirt into your pants, and your pant legs into socks.
- Perform tick checks – frequently inspect your clothing and exposed skin while outdoors and after you return, check your pets also.
- Remove any ticks before they can attach – pay special attention to the scalp, behind the ears and arms and legs.
- Wash clothing and dry on a one-hour dryer cycle at high heat to kill any ticks that may have crawled onto clothing.
If you find an embedded tick, do not use any of the popular methods of removing them such as applying heat from a lit match or using petroleum jelly.
To learn more about Lyme disease as well as how to safely remove a tick and where to take a tick sample, visit the UC IPM Pest Note: Lyme Disease in California and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This updated publication, by authors Robert S. Lane and Anne Kjemtrup, contains new information on incidents of Lyme disease in California.
You can read about the main carrier of Lyme disease, the western blacklegged tick, including the biology of the tick, specific habitats (dense woods and trails with leaf litter), places and times of the year where bites from disease-carrying ticks are more likely to occur, and how to reduce the presence of ticks around homes.
If you discover you've been bitten by a tick, save it for identification. You may have been exposed to Lyme disease if you develop flu-like symptoms or a rash within a week or two of being bitten. If this happens, see your doctor immediately.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
What's medical entomolology?
Anyone who's an entomologist or who works in entomology is asked that question periodically. Medical, they know. Entomology? Often not. But medical entomology?
Well, it's the study of relationships among arthorpods, microbial pathogens and human health, according to medical entomologist Thomas Scott, professor of entomology at UC Davis.
Scott teaches courses on medical entomology. His next one: the 2009 winter quarter, Jan. 5 through March 16.
Worldwide, Scott says, arthropod-borne diseases have devastating effects on human health; they are a leading cause of human morbidity and mortality.
In his course, he explains the basic biology of medically important arthropods and the pathogens they transmit. The diseases include malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, West Nile virus, Lyme disease and River Blindness.
Scott, a noted mosquito-borne disease expert and newly elected fellow of the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science (for "distinguished contributions to the biology and ecology of mosquitoes and his leadership in developing strategic concepts for preventing dengue fever and other mosquito-borne diseases”) does research from his mosquito research laboratory at UC Davis and at field stations in Peru, Thailand and Mexico.
In January, Scott hosted the 42nd annual U.S.-Japan Parasitic Disease Conference on the UC Davis campus. Some 100 scientists from throughout the world participated in the three-day conference "to develop a cross-cutting perspective on what the priorities should be for the future research on arthropod vectors of disease," he explained.
With new and emerging diseases, increasing national and international travel, settlement in endemic areas, and the proliferation of commerce, we can expect disease from vector-borne pathogens to increase, Scott says.
It's obvious what we need less of (diseases) and what we need more of (medical entomologists).