Summertime is the right time for picnics, mowing the lawn, ballgames and… watching out for ticks. Tick-borne diseases aren’t going away. Matter of fact, they are diversifying and become more and more of a problem in suburbia.
Part of the threat arises from invasive plant species that are encouraging larger deer populations to make their homes in crowded neighborhoods.
The honeysuckle shrub is particularly attractive to deer that convey ticks into suburban yards.
“You don’t have to go out into the woods anymore,” warns researcher Brian F. Allan who studies ticks at Washington University in St. Louis. “The deer are bringing tick-borne disease to us.”
Honeysuckle, also called Amur honeysuckle or Lonicera maackii originally grew along the Amur River, which flows near Manchuria. It was first brought to the United States in 1806.
In the midwest, where Allan has performed his studies, the most dangerous tick is the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum). Females of the species carry a white splotch and can give you ehrlichiosis, a variety of illness caused by bacteria in the genus Ehrlichia.
Allan’s research shows that there are five times as many white-tailed deer in neighborhoods that are home to honeysuckle. And the density of ticks in their nymph stage infected with dangerous bacteria? That’s multiplied by 10.
Are other invasive species equally attractive to deer and ticks? Nobody’s sure.
“This may be something that’s occurring quite broadly,” says researcher Jonathan M. Chase, “But we’re really just starting to look at the connection between invasive plants and tick-borne disease risk.”
To avoid ticks:
- When walking in the woods, stay in the center of trails and out of the bushes.
- Stay out of high grass and piles of leaves.
- After being outdoors in tick-infested areas, scan your body (use a mirror for hard-to-see places like the back of your legs), and take a hot shower as soon as possible.
- Wash and dry your clothes on high heat to kill ticks.
- Check your pets and family members frequently for ticks.
And never be blasé about your possibility of encountering ticks this summer.
As Allan warns:
“The lone-star tick … is very aggressive and will actually go after its host. It will run toward the host (you!) faster than most people probably think a tick can run. It has its front legs out, and it’s trying to find you. It has sensory organs on its front two legs, so it’ll stand there and wave those legs around trying to detect your heat and your carbon dioxide signature. And when it gets closer, it kind of zig zags as it’s approaching you, because it’s homing in on your signal and when it gets really close, it grabs on.”
One of the best ways to repel and remove ticks is with neem oil. It’s made from the leaves of the neem tree. Its bark and leaves have been used in the world’s oldest system of medicine, India’s Ayurveda, to heal a multitude of ailments. Neem is also a natural insect repellent. You can make a natural repellent spray by mixing ½ ounce of organic neem oil with the juice of one lemon and two cups of water. The effect can last for up to eight hours.
If you already have a tick, simply apply a few drops of neem oil gently on the skin covering the affected area and the tick should come out without difficulty.
