Something else to panic about.
Something else to panic about. Or not. Just take the recommended precautions against getting tick (or other bug) bites. The alert in Canada is because there have been cases in the US.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/powassan-virus-prompts-officials-to-expand-tick-monitoring-1.3036326
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/powassan-virus-prompts-officials-to-expand-tick-monitoring-1.3036326
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/powassan-virus-prompts-officials-to-expand-tick-monitoring-1.3036326
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/powassan-virus-prompts-officials-to-expand-tick-monitoring-1.3036326
What precautions are needed to avoid ticks?
ReplyDeleteMark Erikson Pants closed at the ankles/high boots/tall socks if you have to be in tall grass. That's all I know...
ReplyDeleteYou can also use certain chemical treatments if you want to, and, of course, do tick checks as soon as you get indoors.
ReplyDeleteHow common are ticks in the States?
ReplyDeleteMark Erikson http://www.cdc.gov/ticks/geographic_distribution.html
ReplyDeleteIt also kind of depends on the area, though - I saw more tick warnings when I was in Maryland (eastern US) than I have here (Ohio, midwestern)
Mostly ticks are in high grass/wooded areas. So if you are going hiking, be somewhat concerned, otherwise, meh.
ReplyDeleteDEET is the only thing I'd add to the avoiding ticks info.
ReplyDeleteAnd a hat if you'll be under trees.
ReplyDelete(I think of ticks as a fairly standard outdoor hazard in places not actively landscaped. Camping always involved the weirdly ape-like daily check-each-other-for-ticks ritual, back when I used to go camping.
ReplyDeleteI really, really hate ticks on a visceral level unmatched by my reaction to anything else at all. I think it's because THEIR ENTIRE HEAD IS IN MY FLESH AAAAAGH.)
Ew, thanks for the visual (kidding, they are pretty disgusting, regardless). It used to be only when camping, but the populations seem to explode every so often and even just getting into tall grass near a road or your own yard, esp. in a wooded neighborhood can harbor the beasties.
ReplyDeleteI heard an interesting theory. The tick profusion and rise of things like Lyme disease, could be related to the extinction of the passenger pigeon. As the pigeons ate the acorns that the deer and the mice now eat, so their populations were lower and the ticks couldn't spread as far.
ReplyDelete