Explain something to me..ticks

[growalot]

With all of the new diseases coming out of this whole tick thing..Why are we not seeing the government trying to get rid of the problem instead of having humans coating them selves in chemicals and still getting infected...How epidemic does this have to get ,over whelming the insurance and medical profession before they start addressing the actual  source, where it lives. Is there something going on in that area? They want to do foolish things to deer like sterilization...What a colossal waste of tax payers money for an animal who's wild life expectancy is just a few years, thanks to modern life happening around them. Why are they not allowing stations to attract the animals, most warm blooded animals, to ingest tick killing or reproductive inhibiting meds. Isn't that what we give our domestic animals, the farm livestock? Especially in the worst areas..Which they have taken the effort to map out...why isn't there a push for legislators to look into this instead of antler restrictions,ect,ect....Is there anyone out there really questioning this?

[TACC]

You make some great points.
I think until it becomes an issue in epidemic proportions it will not be addressed.

Sent from my SM-G900T3 using Tapatalk

[Jeremy K]

When NYC has a tick problem ,that's when.

[growalot]

With the lack of killing winter temps and the increase in wild life,not just deer helping them to breed , and the increasing seriousness and drug resistant diseases popping up from ticks...I think they are not far from edge of looking into that crater. What is up with waiting until it goes from bad to worse. It's like putting up a traffic sign/light...well we need to have a few more deaths first...or maybe a kid or 2...WTH

[Steve D]

If Cumo gets one where the sun doesn't shine we will see some government interaction. Until then it is every man/woman for themselves unless there is way to get them taxed to raise revenue for the state.

[First-light]

On the Island the tick problem is huge along with a huge population. With that said I can say I know only a handful of people that got lime disease. There are some towns out east that have feeding stations that have a spay that hits the deer when they feed. I don't know how good it works though. I do know one thing we do have is a very liberal deer tag amounts especially for doe. 

[growalot]

Here's the thing, these ticks aren't JUST living on deer  They take their meals where they can find them...raccoons squirrels, possums, bobcats ,fishers.. .. If it's warm blood..like us, it's fair game for a blood sucking tick...do any of us  see the bounty,as it were, on any of these other animals, as we see on deer?.. Now granted we need to worry what is feeding on these animals such as birds of prey , but that would be part of the research. Is there more money in it for companies not to kill off the ticks? What other insect,animal in the world would be harmed should a tick eradication occur ..What is their interconnecting value, their butterfly wing effect, should they no longer exist?

Edited June 6, 2017 by growalot

[tuckersdaddy]

Well here is some perspective... The deer tick is carried by small critters like mice and moles so thats where the majority of transport comes from these little bastards... The gov. attempted spraying to kill them, however at this time there is no tick only insectside so as they sprayed the collateral damage was the bees and that was worse. so this is where we are at.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[growalot]

I see and yes this answers some questions as well:  So it looks like I should ask for a government subsidy to raise a whole bunch of guiniea fowl on our place... They could do release programs in parks and forests

PS.. thus the need to find a safe way to get ingestion to stop their breeding cycles..

Quote

Tick-borne disease

Main article: Tick-borne disease

A sign in a Lithuanian forest warning of high risk of tick-borne encephalitis infection

Ticks are implicated in the transmission of a number of infections caused by pathogens such as bacteria, viruses and protozoa. Sometimes the tick harbours more than one type of pathogen, making diagnosis of the infection more difficult. Species of the bacterium Rickettsia are responsible for typhus, rickettsialpox, Boutonneuse fever, African tick bite fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Flinders Island spotted fever and Queensland tick typhus (Australian tick typhus).[43] Other tick-borne diseases include Lyme disease and Q fever,[44] Colorado tick fever, Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever, tularemia, tick-borne relapsing fever, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, and tick-borne meningoencephalitis, as well as bovine anaplasmosis and probably the Heartland virus.[45]

Some species, notably the Australian paralysis tick, are also intrinsically venomous and can cause tick paralysis. Eggs can become infected with pathogens inside a female tick's ovaries, in which case the larval ticks are infectious immediately at hatching, before feeding on their first host.[42] Tropical bont ticks transmit the rickettsial disease heartwater which can be particularly devastating in cattle.[17] The ticks carried by migratory birds may act as reservoirs and vectors of infectious diseases. Over twenty strains of pathogenic virus were found in the autumn in the Egyptian migratory bird study.[18]

Not all ticks in an infective area are infected with pathogens, and both attachment of the tick and a long-feeding session seem to be necessary for transmission of these diseases to take place.[40] Thus tick bites often do not lead to infection, especially if the ticks are removed within 36 hours.[46] Adult ticks can be removed with fine-tipped tweezers or proprietary tick removal tools, disinfecting the wound.[47][48][49] It is also possible to freeze them off with a medical wart remover.[50] If the tick's head and mouthparts break off during removal, they can be removed with tweezers like a splinter.[51]

Population control measures

Researcher collecting ticks using the "tick dragging" method

With the possible exception of widespread DDT use in the Soviet Union, attempts to limit the population or distribution of disease-causing ticks have been quite unsuccessful.[52] The parasitoid chalcid wasp Ixodiphagus hookeri has been investigated for its potential to control tick populations. It lays its eggs into ticks;[53][a] the hatching wasps kill their hosts.[54] Another natural form of control for ticks is the guineafowl, a bird species which consumes mass quantities of ticks.[55]

Topical tick medicines may be toxic to animals and humans. The synthetic pyrethroid insecticide Phenothrin in combination with the hormone analogue methoprene was a popular topical flea and tick therapy for felines. Phenothrin kills adult ticks, while methoprene kills eggs. However, some products have been withdrawn, while others are known to cause adverse reactions.[56]

 

Edited June 6, 2017 by growalot

[G-Man]

I have yet to see a tick on my property in 25 plus years.. Keds yes lots of them but I haven't found a tick yet and I cut a lot of deer a year.. I am also in the coldest area of wny... Perhaps the grouse population keeps them down like guinea foul?

[wooly]

I'm not sure you could do much damage to the tick population by medicating a "handful" of hosts at local feed sites.

That may be another feel good reaction to say we are doing something, even though it has minimal impact.

I would think that after the "poisoned" ticks fall off and die, that some other critters or birds might eat them as well with unknown affects right on up the food chain from there. More $tudie$ would need to be conducted....

 

Isn't that the reason they went with those beetle bag traps in the trees for the emerald ash borers?

Maybe they are devising tick traps as we speak baited with human flesh,lol

[jperch]

I have read that mice are actually more important than deer as tick carriers.  I think controlling the ticks is not feasible.  There is/was a human vaccine for Lyme disease.  You can read up on it online, apparently the demand for the vaccine was not high enough to be profitable when potential law suits are taken into account.  A friend of mine received the vaccine in Europe.  

jperch

[growalot]

All good points..What about allowing professional controlled burns in the worst areas mapped and for large land owners...note professional and with a DEC permit if need be. I remember as a kid the fire depts. would do these as a training for people...though back then far fewer homes...I actually lived in town and they did this, it was routine on farm lands.

Edited June 6, 2017 by growalot

[mowin]

12 minutes ago, jperch said:

I have read that mice are actually more important than deer as tick carriers.  I think controlling the ticks is not feasible.  There is/was a human vaccine for Lyme disease.  You can read up on it online, apparently the demand for the vaccine was not high enough to be profitable when potential law suits are taken into account.  A friend of mine received the vaccine in Europe.  

jperch

The vaccine was available in NY. It was 3 seperate shots either a week or a month apart. Can't remember what it was.

I had the vaccine. I've never gotten Lyme, but have been bitten countless times over the yrs. Just about everyone I hunt with and most of there family members have had Lyme. Some several times.  Now I'm not saying the vaccine has worked for me, but it would seem that way. 

[Nomad]

As someone with 45 ash trees In a suburban yard, I've paid attention to the EAB, the beetle traps are just to see if the EAB is in the area .

Agree stopping ticks seems like an unreachable task, delevopling effective meds.seems like the way to go, but with so,few getting Lymn the $ is not there make it worth while .

And yes I know a couple people and a few dogs with it .

[growalot]

How costly and is it insurance covered...That's a whole other set of questions right there....I've been tested..can't remember if insurance covered it but our deductible(?) did...

Problem is it isn't JUST Lyme disease any more, far worse ones and found in NY and surrounding states. I just think that if the public doesn't put a push on this the whole "well it's just not bad enough yet" attitude will prevail, when it really shouldn't have to. As mentioned it's a world problem. Do we really want yet another set of diseases spreading with no cure , just respiratory support and disability checks?

[bugsNbows]

Boy, you may have opened Pandora's box! Tick management can be very difficult, time consuming and expensive. The "government" is trying (sort of) to decrease the threat, but biological control using predators, parasites and pathogens has not shown to significantly reduce tick populations in nature. In the NE U.S., Lyme disease has been much more rampant than elsewhere in the U.S. States in that geography tend to be highly populated, have large host numbers, and when the winters are relatively mild, the ticks thrive. Your best bet is to be vigilant in checking your body, try to limit exposure and continue with repellants. Permethrin (for example) is quite safe with a dermal LD50 greater than 4000 mg / kg. Population densities of Ixodes scapularis Say (backlegged or deer tick) will continue to rise and fall. That's just nature. 

[Nomad]

One more reason to move out of NYS, if the the taxes, snow/ice don't kill you the bugs will !

[growalot]

It's amazing the number of "angles" surrounding such a subject...just makes it more interesting to discuss...I'm actually in a "mapped" low tick area...I have my theories on that, between altitude,weather and local plants and what the deer eat... We have a very long list of insect repelling plants here...I wonder how much research is being done on that front?  I have to search...

[growalot]

lol...believe me the bugs down south are no picnic....

[jperch]

My GF has 6 cats on the farm, they were picking up some ticks this spring.  I wear light, skin tight thermal underwear with socks tucked in.  My outer clothing was treated with Permethrin.  I did not find a single tick on me since I started doing this.  I leave my outer clothes in the garage and check myself carefully, especially my hair/neck area.  I think I'm more likely to get a tick bite from the dang cats then when I am in the woods.

jperch

[growalot]

I have been tucking my pants in my socks (white socks) for so many years now I can't remember when I started,,,but it had to do with spiders and ground bees at the time not ticks...This year was the first found tick on me, the testing was due to a bulls eye rash...

I had a Samoyed that I found an engorged tick on ...he had seizures shortly after until he died at 16yrs old ...many years later...and was tested allergic to dang near everything including pollen ,grass,dust...ect..ect...No one got the connection then but I do now.. he was healthy before that tick...Well, except for having his guts ripped out and shot with and M14 and then a black powder pistol...poor thing His name was Strider and he had to have been enchanted to live through all he did, and still be one of the sweetest loving dogs I had  ..That all happened before I got him...well the guts ripped out was on my watch...

[dbHunterNY]

was just at a dirtbike race.  very wet out.  in the woods not very long at all.  otherwise in a wide open mowed field and mud.  went home to take a shower.  had one crawling on my arm.  trying something new.  will be hard to tell if it helps.

[Fletch]

Need to be more aware as a pet owner than this lady

 

http://www.newyorkupstate.com/western-ny/2017/06/vets_remove_72_ticks_from_one_dog_after_visit_to_wooded_area_in_upstate_ny.html#incart_m-rpt-1

 

[Steuben Jerry]

Chuckie's on it!

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Schumer-Urges-US-Government-tom-price-ticks-lyme-426327631.html