A short walk in the woods is all you need to know that ticks are thriving in Missouri this spring.
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
Find out how to advertise here - Email us! [email protected]
A short walk in the woods is all you need to know that ticks are thriving in Missouri this spring, and a University of Missouri entomologist said there are at least two reasons why.
“The average Missourian is going to say ticks are bad this year, and I think that’s true for a couple of reasons,” said Rob Hall, director of the MU Department of Entomology. “The ticks we have around here have a mechanism to get through the winter, but if you have a cold winter, the mortality will be greater. We’ve not only had a couple of pretty mild winters, but we also had an early spring.
“Given a long summer, we could have two generations.”
A more important factor in tick populations, Hall said, is the abundance of warm-blooded wildlife in the Missouri countryside. “They’ll feed on anything with warm blood; it’s the only thing they feed on. So, if you’ve got a lot of critters running around, like we do here, you have a lot of warm-blooded hosts for parasitic animals.”
In Missouri, humans and dogs usually pick up two tick species: the American dog tick and the Lone Star tick.
The tick’s life cycle begins when a female tick drops off a host and lays a batch of about 5,000 eggs, Hall said. Later in the summer, those give rise to seed ticks, “those millions of tiny ticks that crawl up on you.
The six-legged, wingless larvae must feed, and to do that they have to find a host, he said. “They crawl up on a blade of grass or a twig, and they wait for a host animal to come by, then attach to it.”
“After it feeds, it molts to the next stage and finds another host. Then, it drops off and has to find another host,” Hall said. “It’s a risky life cycle.” Between 97 and 99 percent of tick larvae never reach adulthood.
Typically, larval ticks feed on little mammals like mice and shrews. The nymphs and adults feed on relatively larger animals like cattle, rabbits and wild turkey. Dogs and humans are incidental hosts.” The most common host is white-tailed deer, he said.
To avoid ticks, which are most abundant in brushy areas, stay on groomed paths or on the lawn, he said. “If you keep your lawn mowed, there won’t be a big problem with ticks on lawns.”
The main human health problem associated with tick bites in Missouri is Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
“A couple of people die in Missouri every year because they ignore it,” Hall said. “Any tick bite that is associated with a rash, either at the site of the bite or on the body, especially the arms and chest, merits a visit to your doctor.”
Antibiotics can be prescribed against Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia, another disease associated with ticks, he said. A third is Lyme disease, which is frequently associated with a rash.
“Ticks need time to transmit these diseases,” he said. “If you can pull them off within a day or shorter, you shouldn’t be at much risk.”
Once the tick is fully attached, removal can be more of a problem, Hall said. “They have central mouth parts with a series of barbs, plus lateral mouth parts that spread to the side and exude a kind of glue. They may want to turn loose, but they can’t do it.
When removing an attached tick, make sure to get the whole thing, he said. Use forceps and get as close as possible to the skin, then treat the bite with an antiseptic. Take care not to pinch the engorged body of an attached tick, or it could act like “a needle with a little rubber bag on the end. If you squeeze too hard, you’re liable to squeeze the stuff into your body through the mouth parts.”
Fortunately, Hall said, there are effective new repellents on the market that contain a chemical called permethrim. They are usually in an aerosol form and are carried in outdoors/camping stores.
“It’s a clothing treatment,” he said. “If you’re going to be out in the woods, you spray your clothes first with this aerosol till the fabric is wet, then let the clothes dry. It’s a fantastic tick repellent, and it’s also highly effective against chiggers.”