WOOSTER, Ohio — Dr. Glen Needham is talking ticks to raise awareness of the insects in Ohio. Needham was one of three presenters at an informational meeting on “Lyme Disease and the Black Legged Tick” at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. The Ohio State University extension in Wayne County sponsored the meeting.

“The tick is the most complex organism on the planet,” Needham said. “They can live up to three years without feeding and they are active 12 months out of the year and can survive in cold temperatures. We are going to have to change our behavior.”

He said the Ohio Department of Agriculture, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Ohio Department of Health and extension are working together to educate residents on diseases caused by ticks. They are bloodsuckers that feed on mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians.

Most ticks prefer to have a different host animal at each stage of their life and they can adapt to as many as three hosts throughout their lifecycle, according to Needham. It may take them up to three years to go through their complete lifecycle, from egg to six-legged larva to eight-legged nymph, to adult.

During feeding, ticks can transmit pathogens that cause disease. Some species of ticks may secrete a cement-like substance that keeps them attached during the meal. Ticks also can secrete small amounts of saliva with anesthetic properties so the animal or person cannot feel it has attached itself.

If the tick is in a sheltered spot, it can go unnoticed. If the host animal has a blood-borne infection, the tick will ingest the pathogens with the blood. Small amounts of saliva from the tick may also enter the skin of the host animal. If the tick contains the pathogen, it could be transmitted to the animal.

Needham said of the 850 tick species in the world, seven are common in the United States, with the American dog tick, the black-legged, or deer, tick and the Lone Star tick commonly found in Ohio. American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis) is the most commonly identified species responsible for transmitting the pathogen which causes Rocky Mountain spotted fever in humans.

“Less than 2 percent of dog ticks carry the Spotted Fever pathogen, which can be fatal,” Needham said. “The ticks must be attached to the host in order for it to be transmitted. They don’t do well in cold weather, so they are most active between April and July.”

The American dog tick can also transmit tularemia. It is found east of the Rocky Mountains, but can occur in limited areas on the Pacific Coast. It can occur statewide in Ohio, but is most common in southern Ohio. Larvae and nymphs feed on small rodents. Dogs and medium-sized mammals are the preferred hosts, although it feeds readily on other large mammals, including humans.

The black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis) can transmit the organisms responsible for anaplasmosis, babesiosis and Lyme disease. This tick is widely distributed in the northeastern and upper Midwest. Larvae and nymphs feed on small mammals and birds, while adults feed on larger mammals and will bite humans on occasion.

The Lone Star tick (Amblyomma americanum) transmits the pathogens for human ehrlichiosis, tularemia and STARI. The Lone Star tick is found in the southeastern and eastern United States.

Whitetail deer are a major host of Lone Star ticks. Larvae and nymphs feed on birds and deer. Both nymphs and adult ticks may be associated with the transmission of pathogens to humans.

“There is a lot of fear and mistrust about ticks and Lyme Disease, particularly in the print media,” Needham said. “Ticks do not jump from trees to a passing host; they typically are closer to the ground, either in the grass or no more than knee-high on a plant.”

Needham noted the name is for the city where the disease was first discovered. “Forty to 50 percent of the ticks found in Lyme, Connecticut, carry the Lyme bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi,” he said.

He said ticks could be a bigger challenge this year because the mild winter did not kill of the insects. “We are trying to raise people’s awareness that ticks are a problem,” he said.

Dr. Denise Signs said the biggest problem with ticks is they cause infectious diseases that may be hard to detect. Signs is a specialist in Infectious Diseases based in Wooster.

Lyme disease can mimic many other medical problems. One of the challenges is finding an accurate test for the disease, according to Signs. 

“Testing for Lyme Disease is difficult, because there are tends to be a lot of false results,” she said.

Typically, if a tick bites a person, they will see a rash within the first three days, but it could take up to a month before any type of reaction appears. They may also see flu-like symptoms such as fatigue, chills, fever, headache, muscle and joint pain and swollen lymph nodes.

Signs told the audience if a tick bites them, they needed to remove it, seal it in a plastic bag and store it in the refrigerator in case problems arise later. She stressed the need for the medical community to be aware of ticks and the diseases they carry, as it is important to start preemptive treatment with a course of antibiotics after a tick bite. She said that early treatment should help patients recover quickly and completely from a disease caused by a tick bite.