Ticks are lurking in Northern California woodlands and beaches. Here’s what you need to know

“Proper now can be the time of yr while you could be at larger threat of getting certainly one of these human-biters get in your clothes,” stated Bob Lane, professor emeritus of medical entomology at UC Berkeley, who has been finding out ticks in California because the Seventies.

California is dwelling to 48 species of ticks, the puny invertebrates identified for attaching to animals — generally people — to feed. In some circumstances, because the parasites slowly gorge on the blood of their host, they’ll transmit micro organism, protozoans or viruses that may infect the host, most notably with Lyme illness, which may be critical and debilitating.

Lyme illness, which is far more widespread on the East Coast, is an “uncomfortable however extremely treatable illness,” in response to the Bay Space Lyme Basis. Nevertheless, it may be troublesome to diagnose, and if it goes untreated, it might produce “crippling” joint and muscle ache, cognitive impairment, nausea and cardiac and respiratory points, in response to the nonprofit. Ticks also can transmit microbes that trigger Rocky Mountain noticed fever, tularemia and human granulocytic anaplasmosis, amongst different ailments.

Of the native tick species, six are identified to often connect to people as they search out sustenance, however solely immature ticks generally known as nymphs and grownup feminine Western black-legged ticks transmit the micro organism that trigger Lyme illness. California normally has fewer than 100 reported circumstances of Lyme illness annually, Lane stated.

Whereas the chance of contracting a critical tick-borne sickness isn’t notably excessive on the West Coast, it’s not one thing you need to threat, Lane stated. Individuals ought to make each effort to keep away from the arachnids, particularly in locations the place Lyme circumstances are extra prevalent, similar to northwestern California and the northern Sierra.

“Give ticks the respect they deserve, and do all the pieces you presumably can to keep away from having direct contact with them,” Lane stated.

Listed below are 10 details and ideas that would make it easier to keep away from ticks — and the ailments they might carry — in your subsequent out of doors journey.

• Spring and early summer season are when persons are most probably to be bitten by a tick in California, since that’s when Western black-legged tick nymphs are most considerable. On clear, heat days, the adults are most energetic within the early morning and late afternoon, Lane stated.

• Ticks are identified to connect to people from leaf litter, in addition to rocks, logs, tree trunks and firewood. Understand that disease-carrying ticks can inhabit coastal shrubland close to seashores, not simply dense forests, Lane stated. Ecotones, or transition areas between totally different vegetation sorts, are additionally identified to harbor extra ticks.

• In case you’re on a path, attempt to stroll within the heart of the path, away from the vegetation on the edges. If the path is on a hillside, attempt to keep away from contact with crops on the uphill facet, the place grownup human-biting ticks within the Bay Space have been discovered to congregate, Lane stated.

• Test your clothes — particularly your pants, socks and footwear — each hour or two if you are in an space that would have a lot of ticks. Acaricides or repellents that may be sprayed on pores and skin or clothes provide an added layer of safety. It’s finest to have one other individual verify you, too, if potential. Take away ticks earlier than they get an opportunity to connect themselves to your physique.

• Pets also can endure tick bites and purchase ailments from contaminated ticks. Canine particularly are “like vacuum cleaners for selecting up adult-stage ticks,” Lane stated. Once you depart an space that would have ticks, verify your pets, in addition to any clothes or gear similar to collars, harnesses and leashes. Undetected, unfed ticks on a pet can find yourself in your mattress or sofa at dwelling.

• Once you get dwelling, verify your pores and skin totally. Ticks may be the dimensions of a poppy seed or smaller. Attempt to bathe inside a few hours of leaving a wooded space.

• If a tick is connected to your pores and skin, take away it as promptly as you possibly can. Use tweezers you probably have them helpful; in any other case, use a tissue or your naked fingers. Grasp the tick as near its mouth as potential and slowly pull it straight out. Take further care when pulling out a tick that has been connected for some time or that’s bloated with blood, as squashing a fed tick can improve the probabilities of transmission of disease-carrying microbes.

• There’s a little bit of a “grace interval” between the time a disease-carrying tick bites and the second it might transmit the disease-carrying microbe, Lane stated. Within the case of Lyme illness, after a chew, it might take at the least two or three days for a Western black-legged nymph tick to transmit the disease-causing bacterium to a human. Deer ticks, that are prevalent on the East Coast however not in California, could transmit micro organism extra shortly, inside a day or two.

• It’s possible you’ll not see and even really feel a tick when it bites you. Some tick species seem to have a type of anesthetic compound of their saliva that makes the chew “unnoticeable,” Lane stated.

• In case you’ve been bitten, merely clear the wound with cleaning soap and water, and if obtainable, apply a light antiseptic similar to rubbing alcohol to disinfect the chew wound.

Andy Picon (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle employees author. Electronic mail: andy.picon@hearst.com Twitter: @andpicon