Local

Experts predict a ‘normal’ tick year on the Cape

CAPE COD, Mass. — You want the good news about ticks this summer on the Cape?

Don’t expect anything out of the ordinary.

“We’re seeing normal tick activity,” said Larry Dapsis, entomologist with the Cape Cod Community Extension.

Dapsis thinks that during the pandemic Cape residents began to see ticks more frequently — possibly giving the impression tick numbers were exploding.

“Lots of people working remotely, to avoid cabin fever they just have to get out of the house and they encounter ticks,” he said. “And it might be February or March and that’s not what they’re expecting.”

What many may not know is that tick season runs from January to December.

“Anytime temperatures are above freezing, no snow cover — yeah, you have tick activity,” Dapsis said. And when it gets hot and dry in summer. ticks seek protection under the forest floor.

But there’s actually a way to predict the intensity of tick seasons — by looking at environmental markers from past seasons.

“The best predictor of how many nymphs there are going to be in any given spring/summer period — is how many white footed mice and chipmunks there were the prior summer,” said  Richard Ostfeld, PhD, senior scientist at the Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY who’s been researching ticks for 30 years. “The mice and chipmunks are really important hosts for the baby ticks, the larvae. And they’re really good hosts.”

But in order to have a burgeoning population of forest rodents, an exceptionally heavy acorn season  would have to have taken place in 2020. And that didn’t happen, Dapsis said.

One fact about ticks some may not realize is that deer do not infect ticks — they transport them. The rodents are the disease vectors, Ostfeld said.

And it’s not clear if culling deer populations can reduce the number of ticks.

“There is some evidence that deer populations that are extremely abundant lead to tick populations that are extremely abundant,” Ostfeld said. “There are places where that’s not the case, so it’s not universal.”

In fact, it’s thought that if deer populations decline, each deer will just carry that many more ticks.

Even though the Cape is expecting a  normal tick season, there is no reason for celebration.

“A good year for tick population — it’s a bad year,” Dapsis said. “One bite can change your life. Don’t think about the tick population, per se, Think about the things you can do to prevent a tick bite.”

Ticks not only transmit Lyme Disease — but the pathogens that cause Babesiosis, Anaplasmosis, Relapsing Fever and the feared Powassan Virus. And on that latter score, the Cape does have an issue.

“We found Powassan infected ticks from Falmouth all the way out to Truro,” Dapsis said. In fact as many as 10 percent of Cape ticks may carry that disease.

“And there have been a few fatalities this spring from Powassan Virus.” Ostfeld said.” It’s a very rare disease, which is quite fortunate because it can be devastating.”

To avoid a tick bite in the first place, Dapsis recommends permethrin-infused clothing — along with tick inspections.

“Hands down, that will reduce your chance of getting a tick bite probably by 90 percent,” he said.

And if you ARE bitten by a tick don’t count on a rash showing up to announce Lyme Disease.

“Rash doesn’t show up in about half the time,” Dapsis said. “If you get the bullseye rash, you’re lucky because that’s a diagnostic positive that doctors can’t argue with.”.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON DEALING WITH TICK SEASON VISIT www.capecodextension.org

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