April 17, 2012 -- The pleasant temperatures of this past winter may be giving way to unpleasant consequences, as the warmer weather has encouraged the early emergence of ticks. That means greater chances of contracting Lyme disease, particularly in the Northeastern, mid-Atlantic, and North-Central U.S., where it's spread by Ixodes scapularis, often called deer tick or blacklegged tick. (Western blacklegged ticks, Ixodes pacificus, spread the disease in California and the Pacific Northwest.) Ticks can also transmit other diseases such as anaplasmosis, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
WebMD talked with Todd Barton, MD, an infectious diseases specialist and Lyme disease expert at the University of Pennsylvania, about the possible uptick in health risks from these bloodsuckers and how you can protect yourself.
What does the warm weather mean for the tick threat?
"One would expect to see them earlier this year, but in theory there won't be more ticks than usual," Barton says. "However, given the warm weather, people will be outdoors more frequently and therefore more often exposed to ticks, and the number of opportunities for infection is more important than the number of ticks."
How will I know if I have been bitten by a tick?
"Ticks have some sort of anesthetic in their spit, so you are not going to feel it when it bites you," Barton says. "That means you have to check yourself thoroughly. They can be hard to spot. Nymphs, which are the size of a poppy seed, spread the most infection to humans because they are harder to spot and less picky about what they eat -- they are teenagers, desperate and hungry -- while larger adult ticks tend to favor smaller mammals."
What should I do if I find a tick on me?
"First, it's not a medical emergency, so you don't need to dial 911," Barton says. "In most cases, ticks take an hour or so to crawl somewhere dark and warm -- the back of your knee, your groin, the crack of your butt -- and start feeding. If it hasn't settled in to feed, you can brush it off. If it is already feeding, it takes more than a day to pass along any infection it might be carrying."