Tick Alert

With spring in full swing and summer on the way, nature lovers throughout Northern California are hitting their favorite parks, trails and coastal bluffs. But hikers beware: It’s peak season for some of the state’s disease-carrying ticks.  “Right now would be the time of year when you might be at higher risk of having one of these human-biters get on your clothing,” said Bob Lane, professor emeritus of medical entomology at UC Berkeley, who has been studying ticks in California since the 1970s.

California is home to 48 species of ticks, the puny invertebrates known for attaching to animals — sometimes humans — to feed. In some cases, as the parasites slowly gorge on the blood of their host, they will transmit bacteria, protozoans or viruses that can infect the host, most notably with Lyme disease, which can be serious and debilitating.

Lyme disease, which is much more common on the East Coast, is an “uncomfortable but highly treatable disease,” according to the Bay Area Lyme Foundation. However, it can be difficult to diagnose, and if it goes untreated, it can produce “crippling” joint and muscle pain, cognitive impairment, nausea and cardiac and respiratory issues, according to the nonprofit. Ticks can also transmit microbes that cause Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tularemia and human granulocytic anaplasmosis, among other diseases.

Of the local tick species, six are known to regularly attach to humans as they seek out sustenance, but only immature ticks known as nymphs and adult female Western black-legged ticks transmit the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. California usually has fewer than 100 reported cases of Lyme disease each year, Lane said.

While the risk of contracting a serious tick-borne illness isn’t particularly high on the West Coast, it’s not something you want to risk, Lane said. People should make every effort to steer clear of the arachnids, especially in places where Lyme cases are more prevalent, such as northwestern California and the northern Sierra.

Here are 10 facts and tips that could help you avoid ticks — and the diseases they may carry — on your next outdoor adventure.

• Spring and early summer are when people are most likely to be bitten by a tick in California, since that’s when Western black-legged tick nymphs are most abundant. On clear, warm days, the adults are most active in the early morning and late afternoon, Lane said.
• Ticks are known to attach to humans from leaf litter, as well as rocks, logs, tree trunks and firewood. Keep in mind that disease-carrying ticks can inhabit coastal shrubland near beaches, not just dense forests, Lane said. Ecotones, or transition areas between different vegetation types, are also known to harbor more ticks.
• If you’re on a trail, try to walk in the center of the trail, away from the vegetation at the edges. If the trail is on a hillside, try to avoid contact with plants on the uphill side, where adult human-biting ticks in the Bay Area have been found to congregate, Lane said.
• Check your clothing — especially your pants, socks and shoes — every hour or two while you are in an area that could have lots of ticks. Acaricides or repellents that can be sprayed on skin or clothing offer an added layer of protection. It’s best to have another person check you, too, if possible. Remove ticks before they get a chance to attach themselves to your body.
• Pets can also suffer tick bites and acquire diseases from infected ticks. Dogs especially are “like vacuum cleaners for picking up adult-stage ticks,” Lane said. When you leave an area that could have ticks, check your pets, as well as any clothing or equipment such as collars, harnesses and leashes. Undetected, unfed ticks on a pet can end up in your bed or couch at home.
• When you get home, check your skin thoroughly. Ticks can be the size of a poppy seed or smaller. Try to shower within a couple of hours of leaving a wooded area.
• If a tick is attached to your skin, remove it as promptly as you can. Use tweezers if you have them handy; otherwise, use a tissue or your bare fingers. Grasp the tick as close to its mouth as possible and slowly pull it straight out. Take extra care when pulling out a tick that has been attached for a while or that is bloated with blood, as squashing a fed tick can increase the chances of transmission of disease-carrying microbes.
• There is a bit of a “grace period” between the time a disease-carrying tick bites and the moment it can transmit the disease-carrying microbe, Lane said. In the case of Lyme disease, after a bite, it could take at least two or three days for a Western black-legged nymph tick to transmit the disease-causing bacterium to a human. Deer ticks, which are prevalent on the East Coast but not in California, may transmit bacteria more quickly, within a day or two.
• You may not see or even feel a tick when it bites you. Some tick species appear to have a kind of anesthetic compound in their saliva that makes the bite “unnoticeable,” Lane said.
• If you’ve been bitten, simply clean the wound with soap and water, and if available, apply a mild antiseptic such as rubbing alcohol to disinfect the bite wound.