CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The summer season is heating up, and it’s peak tick season in the Tar Heel state.
What You Need To Know
- It’s peak tick season
- The Tick-Borne Infections Council of North Carolina recommends being vigilent for ticks
- A Davidson college professor is studying ticks in the Piedmont
According to the Tick-Borne Infections Council of North Carolina, there are a few different types of ticks in North Carolina that can carry different diseases.
The scientific advisor for the council, Dr. Marcia Herman-Giddens, says the type of tick you come across depends on where you are in the state.
To understand the tick population, a Davidson college professor is studying ticks in the Piedmont.
Kevin Smith is an associate biology professor, who focuses on biodiversity.
“When scientists talk about biodiversity, what we mean is the number of species and the proportions in which those species occur,” he said.
His research is looking at how biodiversity affects the tick population.
And really at the center of that research is not looking at where ticks are, but where they aren’t.
He came to Davidson from a college in Missouri, where he says there is a much higher tick population.
He says in the Piedmont, it’s not as high, and he was interested in why.
“When I was so excited I didn’t have to worry about ticks all of the time, I started looking for that research and found most of that research goes on where there are ticks, and not where there aren’t ticks,” he said.
While he says ticks are a growing problem in the Eastern United States, he says his data is finding not as many exist in this concentrated region of the state.
“I think a lot of people see ticks as a growing problem in the Eastern United States, absolutely true,” he said. "Tick-borne diseases are a growing problem, absolutely true. But that doesn’t mean it’s that case everywhere, so we had to do a little convincing, we had to build up data to show here and a few state parks where we work, very few ticks. So even just presenting that lack of data, that negative outcome is important and that was the focus of our paper last year,” he said.
He says by understanding why ticks don’t thrive in certain areas can help scientists understand why they like other areas so much.
So why aren’t there as many ticks in the Piedmont?
Smith says he’s working on a few hypotheses. One possible theory is that there aren’t as many rodents here and certain types of trees.
"The places where ticks are a big problem often have oak dominated forests, oaks makes acorns, acorns make rodents, and rodents to some extent make ticks,” he said. "We aren’t sure if that’s the case here, but it’s one of the hypotheses we are working on.”
Ticks thrive on animal and human hosts. Usually, he says they like to hang out on the edge of things, like a forest.
“They are denser vegetation, they have more resources for animals to live there, and wherever there are high concentration of animals, that’s where ticks want to be,” he said.
However, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take precautions.
Herman-Giddens says you need to stay vigilant, especially if you are heading out to the mountain region to hike, and she says there has been a lot of disease within the state.
She says make sure to wear tick repellent and recommends wearing long, bright-colored pants so you can spot a tick, and tuck your pants into your socks and shoes.
If you do find a tick bite, there’s a certain way to remove the pest.
Herman-Giddens says use tweezers to pull a tick off and pull straight out, ensuring you also pull the head of the tick out and not just the body.
And don’t throw the tick away. She says to tape it to a card and mark the date you found it, as well as where on your body you found it.
She says then mark your calendar 30 days from now, because symptoms most likely will occur within the first 30 days.
She also recommends to bring the tick with you to your provider.
“It helps the provider take the matter more seriously,” she said. "Most providers do not know how to identify different ticks, and some can’t unless you are an entomologist and have a microscope, but sometimes it can help if you do know, because if it’s a black-legged tick, you know to be more concerned about Lyme disease."
She says to always make sure to check yourself for ticks after spending time outside, whether you have been hiking, gardening or just walking.