Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / What to know as ticks spread to new regions and bring new threats

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What to know as ticks spread to new regions and bring new threats · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It's summertime and tics are out in full force. While
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: in certain parts of the country ticks have long been
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  Speaker 1: an issue, they're now spreading to new regions and bringing
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  Speaker 1: new threats. William Brangham has the latest.
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  Speaker 2: For many years, ticks have been viewed as a menace
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  Speaker 2: because they sicken us with lime disease. About half a
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  Speaker 2: million Americans get lime every year and it can cause serious,
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  Speaker 2: sometimes lifelong health problems. But now ticks are infecting us
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  Speaker 2: with some different ailments, including one called alpha gal syndrome,
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  Speaker 2: which can give humans a dangerous allergy to red meat
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  Speaker 2: and to dairy products. For the latest on these tiny
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  Speaker 2: bloodsucking terrors, we turn to Hollygaff. She's a mathematical ecologist
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  Speaker 2: who studies tics at Old Dominion University. Holly, thank you
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  Speaker 2: so much for being here. The CDC says that so
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  Speaker 2: far this year, er visits for tick bites are our
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  Speaker 2: way above normal, almost going back, they haven't seen it
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  Speaker 2: this bad since I think a decade ago. Do you
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  Speaker 2: have a sense as to why we are seeing such
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  Speaker 2: a busy start to tick season, And that's.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: A great question. I think tick populations are extremely complex
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  Speaker 3: and understanding where they are that's certainly been a big
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  Speaker 3: tick year starting off. I'm really curious to see how
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  Speaker 3: it's going to go through the rest of the season,
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  Speaker 3: whether we've just jammed them all on the first part
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  Speaker 3: of it. But they are up. They are up in
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  Speaker 3: a lot of places. I think there's a couple complicating
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  Speaker 3: factors of the combination of a very cold winter, which
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  Speaker 3: is kind of contradictory to what people would think. They
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  Speaker 3: think cold should kill a tick, but honestly, the cold
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  Speaker 3: probably killed some of the things that they would have
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  Speaker 3: fed on instead of you and me. So they're kind
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  Speaker 3: of like I jokingly call them hangry ticks at this point,
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  Speaker 3: that are up and they haven't found food until they
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  Speaker 3: find on.
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  Speaker 2: Great, that's just way to give us some summer terrorists,
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  Speaker 2: as are me of hangry ticks out there? Are there
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  Speaker 2: more regions of the country, different regions of the country
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  Speaker 2: that are more vulnerable to this explosion of ticks.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, So I think the best way to understand the
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  Speaker 3: explosion of ticks as well is also these particular ticks,
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  Speaker 3: these lone star ticks, really like to feed on white
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  Speaker 3: tailed deer, and so as white tailed deer populations continue
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  Speaker 3: to explode, the ticks that come with them do we've
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  Speaker 3: also built and moved into the excerbs and the suburbs
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  Speaker 3: and the areas we like lie a little a forest
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  Speaker 3: around us, and so we've moved to them, and we've
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  Speaker 3: created the buffet for these little, as I've described them,
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  Speaker 3: hangry little ticks.
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  Speaker 2: So lime disease has been the principal problem as far
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  Speaker 2: as human health is that still the principal concern.
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  Speaker 3: It's a mixed bag. I mean, lime disease is nothing
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  Speaker 3: to be trivialized all in all of this, I think
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  Speaker 3: it's just the recognition of this newer ailment of alpha
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  Speaker 3: gal syndrome that is coming along. Lime disease has been
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  Speaker 3: moving south, but it's definitely been more in the Midwest
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  Speaker 3: and northeast and so but alpha gal and lone stars
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  Speaker 3: are moving north. So it's everything is moving every direction.
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  Speaker 3: And I think there's a whole bunch of other tick
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  Speaker 3: boorn diseases that also can are you know, smaller numbers
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  Speaker 3: of cases, but certainly of concern for those who are
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  Speaker 3: impacted by that.
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  Speaker 2: So specifically about that alpha gal syndrome that you're talking about,
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  Speaker 2: that is something you get from a tick that causes
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  Speaker 2: an allergy to meat in dairy products, to red meat.
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  Speaker 2: Is that correct?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that is correct. So the saliva of a lone
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  Speaker 3: star tick in particular, and some other tick species around
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  Speaker 3: the world have a sugar that will basically expose you
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  Speaker 3: to the alpha gal protein or primy carbohydrate, and so
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  Speaker 3: it's a delayed allergy. It's a very bizarre series of
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  Speaker 3: steps in the immunology of the human and all non
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  Speaker 3: Old world primates actually that can have the alpha gal
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  Speaker 3: allergy that can be triggered from this exposure. Again, it
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  Speaker 3: depends on your genetics. So not everybody's going to have
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  Speaker 3: this immediately after being bitten by a loan star, but
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  Speaker 3: certainly a lot of folks have I see.
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  Speaker 2: So for people who are hearing about this might be
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  Speaker 2: not familiar with how to protect themselves. What are some
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  Speaker 2: basic guidelines of how to keep ticks off you.
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  Speaker 3: I think the best bet is to be aware that
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  Speaker 3: you are looking, and you are, you know, trying to
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  Speaker 3: find them before they find you. So stay. If you
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  Speaker 3: go outside in areas that will be infected with ticks,
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  Speaker 3: and that'd be anywhere that you see a white tail deer,
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  Speaker 3: that's a great indicator that ticks will be nearby. You
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  Speaker 3: definitely want to stay on trails if you're hiking or
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  Speaker 3: in your own backyard. Be aware when you're going near
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  Speaker 3: wooded areas where there'll be more ticks, and so being
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  Speaker 3: aware to where to look on your body, check yourself,
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  Speaker 3: check your children, check your check your pets. If you
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  Speaker 3: do want to use chemicals, there are things like deet
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  Speaker 3: that will deter them some. I always recommend promethron as
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  Speaker 3: well if you are willing to use that on your shoes.
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  Speaker 3: At least that can kill the tick as it comes
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  Speaker 3: across that. But it's just nothing will beat checking yourself
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  Speaker 3: for ticks consistently while you're outside, as well as when
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  Speaker 3: you get back inside.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I know you're not a doctor, but I know,
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  Speaker 2: given your exposure and your expertise, you must have done
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  Speaker 2: this a million times. But if one gets through those
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  Speaker 2: defenses and is stuck in you, there seems to be
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  Speaker 2: so much misinformation out there about how to get them off.
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  Speaker 2: I've read petroleum jelly, burning in with matches, nail polished remover.
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  Speaker 2: What is the best way safely to get a tick
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  Speaker 2: out of you?
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  Speaker 3: The best recommendation CDC recommendation, World Health Organization recommendation is
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  Speaker 3: to get a pair of tweezers, if possible, and pull
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  Speaker 3: the ticks straight out just it does not want to
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  Speaker 3: be irritated out of there. I mean, all the other
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  Speaker 3: techniques that you're talking about probably do more harm to you.
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  Speaker 3: But you get a pair of tweezers, put it flat
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  Speaker 3: against your skin and pull straight up. Don't twist, don't
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  Speaker 3: crush the tick, and your whole goal is just to
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  Speaker 3: get as much of the tick out as possible. First,
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  Speaker 3: I would say, also wash the area, don't panic. It
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  Speaker 3: is disconcerting to find one, but the sooner you get
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  Speaker 3: it out the better, because the longer you wait to
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  Speaker 3: do anything else, the more exposure you are to both
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  Speaker 3: the saliva for alpha gal as well as all the
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  Speaker 3: pathogens it could be transmitting.
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  Speaker 2: All right, that is Holly Gaff of Old Dominion University,
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for your expertise.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you.
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