Unusually aggressive lone star ticks, common in the south-east, are spreading to areas previously too cold for them

Unusually aggressive lone star ticks, common in the south-east, are spreading to areas previously too cold for them

  • leadore@lemmy.world
    32·
    21 hours ago

    The syndrome is not caused by a pathogen but spurs an allergy to a sugar molecule found in mammals and an array of other things, from toothpaste to medical equipment.

    Lone star ticks are aggressive and can speedily follow a human target if they detect them. “They will hunt you, they are like a cross between a lentil and a velociraptor,” said Sharon Pitcairn Forsyth, a conservationist who lives in the Washington DC area.

    A particular horror is the prospect of brushing up against vegetation containing a massed ball of juvenile lone star ticks, know as a “tick bomb”, that can deliver thousands of tick bites. “They are so tiny you can’t see them but you have to take it seriously or you’ll never get them off you,” said Forsyth, who now carries around a lint roller to remove such clusters.

    • lemmylump@lemmy.world
      23·
      18 hours ago

      Many years ago my dog brought in a tic bomb, and got into bed with me. I awoke to my left arm and hand covered in so many sesema seed sized tics I could not even see my skin.

      It took hours to get them off me and my dog.

      I dodged a bullet cause I didn’t get any illnesses, nor did my dog.

      I’m still freaked out though.