Ticks are active in Kentucky year round, but this is prime time, and they are getting more common and more dangerous
“However, I think important things to note are that 1) we do have ticks active in the winter months in Kentucky and 2) the prime months for tick activity so far seem to be April through August,” Pasternak said in an e-mail. “This, of course, doesn’t mean that you only need to be wary of ticks in these months, just that these months are when I have collected the majority of ticks each year.”Kentucky provides a perfect home for ticks, with its warm, humid summer days, an abundance of wooded, leafy areas in both rural and urban places, and plenty of hosts to feast upon.
Also of concern is that symptoms of Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases — like headache, fatigue, fever and rashes — can mimic Covid-19 symptoms, which could result in a delayed diagnosis and risk for complications.
Looking forward, progress is being made on the development of a Lyme disease vaccine, as well as other technologies and treatments to prevent the disease.
“Pfizer and its partner Valneva announced in April 2022 that they had completed Phase 2 of a clinical trial of a Lyme disease vaccine, setting on the path for a larger Phase 3 trial. Two Yale researchers have developed a vaccine based on mRNA technology (the platform used to create the Covid-19 vaccine) to reduce the risk of developing Lyme disease. CRISPR technology has been used to edit the gene of black-legged ticks, which may help scientists with developing vaccines and treatments. Researchers are investigating vaccinating mice that carry ticks, and genetically engineering mice to prevent them from becoming reservoirs of diseases that ticks ingest when they feed on mice,” Bara Vaida writes in a tip-sheet on tick-reporting for AHCJ.
- Avoid grassy, wooded and leaf-covered areas
- Keep grass and shrubs trimmed and cleared away
- Walk in the center of walking trails
- Wear light-colored clothes, which make it easier to spot ticks
- Wear long pants tucked into boots and tuck in your shirts
- Use tick repellent that has the repellent DEET or picaridin
- Treat your clothes with permethrin, which repels and kills ticks
- Do a body check along the way and at the end of each day
- Check your pets and equipment for ticks
- Shower within two hours of potential exposure, if possible
To kill ticks on clothing, tumble dry for 10 minutes or wash them in hot water. If clothes can’t be washed in hot water, tumble dry for 90 minutes on regular heat or 60 minutes on high.
Kentucky Health News is an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Kentucky.