Episode 59: All About Ticks

Joellen Lapman from the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program joins Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley for a fascinating (and scary) discussion, All About Ticks. Learn about the latest news and research on ticks and tick-borne diseases

Ticks are related to spiders but can be much more dangerous to humans. How many diseases are connected with ticks? Unfortunately, it’s much more than Lyme’s Disease.

Climate change and our warmer winters are enabling different kinds of ticks (other than the black-legged deer tick) to move into the Hudson Valley. (The only place you can avoid ticks is in Antarctica!) Do you know the relationship between mast years for nut trees (e.g., oaks, hickory, etc.) and ticks? Do pesticides help? Is addition to deer, controlling the mice and chipmunk population is also important.

Personal prevention is key, but having flu-like symptoms in the springtime may be a signal to check for a tick-borne disease. Anytime you are off pavement, you are in tick territory. Permethrin on clothing helps. But did you know that putting clothing in the dryer (not the washer) will kill ticks? Checking pets for ticks is just as important as checking yourself. There is lots of information that can be found on-line (not all of it ‘sound’) about the removal of ticks, but the key is to avoid ‘upsetting’ the tick.

Joellen provides a wealth of valuable information. Get caught up on the latest science related to ticks!

Hosts: Tim Kennelty and Jean Thomas

Guest: Joellen Lapman

Photo by: Tim Kennelty

Productions Support: Linda Aydlett and Teresa Golden

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