It Was Where? (AKA: Take off your clothes)

Two things have happened this week that have spurred this week’s blog post. And yes, today is only Tuesday. The first is that I have found not one but three ticks in my hotel room. The second is the news report that the CDC is reporting that they are seeing the highest rate of emergency room visits for tick bites in a decade.

Oh yeah, I'm in New Jersey right now, but this also hit my news feed today:

Why are either of these things important? Great question, thanks for asking.

First, ticks don’t really live indoors. They can come in on our bodies, our pets, or accidentally through an opening. They don’t survive long once inside, it’s just not their habitat. I went from the airport to the car rental to the hotel with no stops in between, so I know they didn’t come from me. I wasn’t hiking in the woods or walking through tall grass. I found one female and two male American dog ticks, two in the bathroom and one in the entryway (by the bathroom).

It's a bit strange. I’m on the fifth floor of the hotel and it was supposedly remodeled recently. (Might this have something to do with it?) While there are some woods on the back side, the front is a paved parking lot, and the two sides have neatly trimmed vegetation. The windows in my room are well sealed. So how did they get into my room?

I don’t know. If it were just one, I would have said it was accidental. But three? I’m really not sure. Which can happen in pest control. While we always like to find the “smoking gun” and resolve the underlying issues, it doesn’t always work like that.

The next part of this is tick bites resulting in ER visits. There are a number of reasons for this.

• Because of climate change and other factors, ticks are spreading in their ranges and their seasons are lasting longer. Now ticks generally have a two-year life cycle, but with warmer temps, more are surviving the winter.

• It may take some time, but there may be more hosts this year. Ticks need to feed in order to get to the next life stage and eventually the adult stage. So small mammals like mice are the first hosts and then they graduate to the medium and larger mammals. They may also feed on birds, lizards, and other animals.

• Tick-borne diseases are in the news and are serious. One of the biggest emerging diseases is Alpha-gal syndrome. To oversimplify this: you get bitten by a tick and get a severe red meat allergy. And not a little itch, a “get an epi-pen and get to the hospital fast” allergy. Then there’s Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and quite a few more.

• Lastly, I think there is more awareness of ticks in general. We can all log onto the internet and search for ticks and tick-borne diseases. Considering the severity of some of these, it’s good that people are taking precautions and seeking medical advice.

The moral of this story? Wear your PPE when you are out and about. Do a tick check when you come back inside (and check your pets). Be observant; sometimes you find ticks in weird places. Finally, call me to help review and improve your tick control programs.

Lagniappe – this tick was ready for it’s close up.