Tick season returns

FALLS VILLAGE — When you go outside in warm weather, do you wear a long-sleeved shirt and tuck your pants into your socks?You should.Dr. Kirby C. Stafford III, state entomologist and chief entomologist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, packed an enormous amount of information into one 47-minute class period during Science Day at Housatonic Valley Regional High School Friday, April 11.Before the talk, Stafford was asked, mostly in jest, about a conspiracy theory that the emergence of the deer tick and the beginning of thousands of cases of Lyme disease all started with an undisclosed mishap at the now-closed Connecticut Yankee nuclear power plant in Haddam Neck.Stafford sighed, the sort of sigh that comes from the heart.And as he began speaking, he quickly got to the question of why ticks — and tick-borne illnesses — rebounded after being rare for decades.Stafford said that ticks rebounded as Connecticut became reforested, after the clearing of the forests in the post-Colonial period and into the Industrial Revolution.They came with the forestsWhile one Pehr Kolm, writing in 1770, bemoaned that it was impossible to go for a walk in the woods without being assaulted by what he called “wood lice,” by 1872, Asa Fitch, the prominent entomologist, declared the “wood tick” almost extinct.The reason, Stafford said, was the massive clearing of forests.But by 2000, forested land in Connecticut had returned to 58 percent of the pre-Colonial total.Also making a comeback: the white-tailed deer. Stafford showed a chart: 12 deer in the state in 1896 and more than 62,000 today.And with the deer came the deer tick.Ixodes scapularis, the eastern black-legged tick, is a three-host tick that infects its host at the larval, nymph and adult stages. Deer, mice, birds, dogs and people are all hosts.This means there are a lot of the nasty little things around — especially in the summer.Stafford said that children are at highest risk. The risk factor drops in people in their 20s, and then begins to climb again when people get into their 30s.Stafford said the reason for the drop is that 20-somethings tend to be inside more.“But then they get married and start doing yard work.”There is no vaccine for Lyme disease, erlichiosis or other tick-borne illnesses.Look dorky or use DEETStafford said that prevention efforts are concentrated on education and on changing behavior.So as far as the pants-tucked-into-socks look goes, Stafford conceded such a recommendation meets with resistance.“It’s dorky,” he said.Some outdoor clothing manufacturers sell pants and shirts treated with permethrin, an insect repellent.But for skin, a bug spray containing DEET in a concentration of at least 30 percent is the only available option to keep ticks away.Stafford advised doing tick checks of the entire body after being outside.The entire body. “I’m not going to elaborate, but anywhere — I mean anywhere — on the body.”If you suspect the ticks have been at you, just washing your clothes isn’t enough. “Ticks will survive an hour in the wash, but not an hour in a hot dryer.”For removing ticks, Stafford said a fine-tipped forceps is best.Ticks are slow feeders, he continued. “They feed for days.”The tick makes cuts in the skin, and then adds insult to injury by secreting a cement-like material to hold itself in place — unless someone comes at it with a fine-tipped forceps.“They superglue themselves to you.”Then they feed, which Stafford described as “spitting and sucking.”“Then, with a grand slurp, they’re done and they drop off.”(There was also some information about spirochetes, or tick guts, but this is a family newspaper.)If a tick manages to bite you, even after wearing special clothing, applying liberal amounts of DEET and tucking your pants into your socks, you can expect to start feeling lousy anywhere from three days to a month later (the average is seven to nine days).Erythema migrans is the name for the classic red rash associated with Lyme disease, and it occurs in between 60 and 80 percent of infected people.“It’s easy to miss — it doesnt itch.”Symptoms include fatigue, muscle or joint pain, chills or fever, headache, swollen nymph nodes and secondary lesions.If left untreated, expect arthritis, heart block or Bell’s palsy (paralysis of half of the facial muscles).Testing is not completely reliable. “You can have all the symptoms and still get a false negative.”Where they lurkStafford said that ideal tick habitat includes the 3 yards between the edge of a typical lawn and the forest.Stone walls are also good tick habitat. “They are mouse and chipmunk hotels,” he said, and the rodents are classic tick hosts.Stafford advised homeowners to clean up their yards, and put in wood-chip barriers in that 3-yard zone between lawn and woods.He also advised getting rid of leaves as soon as possible, and even installing deer fencing, which has proved to be effective in controlling deer and, hence, ticks.“A deer fence prevents larvae 100 percent.”Fences better than poultryA bioinsecticide called Met52 can be effective in tick control as well.Stafford was skeptical that certain birds, such as the helmeted guinea fowl or turkey, could be used to keep ticks down.He said the theory, that the birds would feed on engorged female ticks, has not been backed up by research and pointed out that the birds could be hosts as well as predators.And just in case you needed another reason to dislike invasive plants, Stafford said that higher tick counts are associated with invasive, exotic plants as they take over the forest understory.He singled out Japanese barberry, and said that when the plant is forcibly removed the number of larval and adult ticks is reduced by 60 percent.Ticks like snowDuring audience questions, Stafford was asked if cold weather, such as the winter of 2013-14, kills off ticks.Stafford said no. “Snow doesn’t effect ticks — in fact, it makes a nice microhabitat.”Is there any way to eradicate the tick?“The only way is to cut down the forests and eliminate deer. Ticks are too embedded into the ecology.”Asked if there is a human vaccine, Stafford said there was one that was 70 percent effective but it was taken off the market in 2002 after a class-action lawsuit.Stafford added there is research under way on a second generation human vaccine. “The question is, who will follow through” and develop it.And a vaccine wouldn’t be a silver bullet. “A vaccine works outside the host body, so it’s no protection if someone is already infected.”The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station publishes the Tick Management Handbook, which is available in electronic format at www.ct.gov/caes.