Tick sightings are on the rise throughout the New River Valley, and with that comes the danger of Lyme disease.
Nathan Burnett with TickZone, a free site that scores tick risk for every town in the country, says Radford carries one of Virginia’s higher CDC Lyme rates, 80 per 100,000, the 11th-highest of Virginia’s 121 counties.
Burnett said deer tick nymphs peak in June and July, which is why so much of the area is near its ceiling right now.
“The lone star tick runs a different curve, with larval swarms holding risk into September. The American dog tick is largely finished by fall. Each is scored on its own curve rather than one blended seasonal average,” he said.
This is an exposure model, not an epidemiological forecast. According to Tick Zone, it estimates where encounters are likely, not where infections will occur. And the seasonal curves are heuristics built from CDC and state health department tick activity calendars, not fitted against case outcomes.
In comparison statewide, Montgomery County is 16th with 61 cases.
Lyme disease is now the most reported vector-borne disease in the United States. It is an infection transmitted by the bite of a tick infected with the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi.
Lyme disease is now the most reported vector-borne disease in the United States. It is an infection
transmitted by the bite of a tick infected with the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report showing that diseases from
biting insects, ticks, and mosquitos in the U.S. have tripled since 2004.
Brandon Jutras, a Lyme disease researcher in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech, says, “Warming temperatures are playing an important role in this increase. Ticks not readily killed due to warmer winters, are coming out earlier in the season and spreading to more northern areas.”
Another factor likely playing a role in the increase is public and physician awareness.
There are many misconceptions about ticks and Lyme disease, and Jutras, an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and affiliated faculty of the Fralin Life Science Institute, offers several myths and truths on ticks.
“Four major species of ticks are capable of transmitting the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, only one of which is found in our area: the blacklegged, or deer tick, Ixodes scapularis. It spreads the disease in the northeastern, mid-Atlantic, and north-central United States. The western blacklegged tick, Ixodes pacificus, is responsible for transmitting the disease on the Pacific Coast, and in Europe and Asia, Ixodes Ricinus and Ixodes persulcatus ticks act as vectors of Lyme disease. That said, Virginia is home to a few other species of ticks that transmit other diseases.”
He also said It is also important to remember that just because you are bitten by a tick, doesn’t mean the tick is carrying the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. Also, the duration of tick attachment, or feeding time, is important.
“B. burgdorferi lives in the gut of the tick but is transmitted through the saliva. Once the tick
bites, the bacteria have a rather long journey, which can take anywhere from 12 to 72 hours to be transmitted, so prompt removal is critical.”
One of the biggest questions is knowing if you have bitten by a tick.
Jutras said during feeding, ticks are slowly injecting a very complex mixture of salivary components, a few of which act to numb the area. So, unlike a mosquito, most people don’t feel a tick feeding, unless you happen to be allergic to one of the salivary components.
Ticks enjoy warm, moist areas like the groin, back of the knee, or armpit, which are not obvious or easy places to check regularly.
He gave these tips for prevention:
Wear light-colored clothing while enjoying the outdoors and treat these clothes with DEET, or N,N- diethyl-meta-toluamide, containing bug spray. This does work well at repelling ticks, and light colored clothing will allow you to spot the ticks more easily. When in high risk areas check yourself often, initial tick contact almost always occurs below your thigh.”
“If you’ve been bitten, don’t panic, promptly and carefully remove the tick and save it. The tick can be useful in possible future diagnostic efforts,” he said.
“On hikes, or in my car glove box, I carry a fine-tipped pair of tweezers and a small container, the size of a pill bottle, with over the counter rubbing alcohol, or, 70 percent ethanol. Use the tweezers to remove the tick and drop it into the container with alcohol to kill and preserve the tick should testing be required in the future.”
