![]() ![]() Studies show a deer tick nymph can be roughly the size of a poppyseed.ĭill recommends getting into the habit of conducting checks after going outdoors. Ticks at their immature stage can be hard to see, often leaving them undetected. “Proper timely removal can go a long way to prevent tick-borne infections.” “Most ticks are acquired in people’s own yards,” Szantyr said. During the summer months when ticks are most active, the CDC recommends regular tick checks, paying special attention to moist, warm areas of the body. “Deer ticks began to become common in southern Maine during the late 1980s and 1990s.”Įducation and prevention are key to avoiding tick-borne illness, experts say. “The deer tick or blacklegged tick has been expanding its range north over the last half century,” Dill said. Deer ticks can carry the Lyme disease pathogens, transmitting the infection to humans approximately 36 hours after feeding, a Maine Medical Center study shows. The most commonly found ticks on humans are the American dog tick and the deer tick, though 15 species of ticks have been identified in the state by the Maine Medical Center Research Institute. “Transmission can happen quite quickly, if the other infections are not a good enough reason, this presents us with a really good reason to keep ticks off of us.” “The particular worry that Powassan brings is its transmission time is less than 15 minutes,” Szantyr said. The UMaine Cooperative Extension does not currently test for the Powassan virus pathogen in its laboratory. “Fortunately it is exceptionally rare, we do see a case or two a year generally at most,” Dill said. Only nine cases of the virus have been reported in Maine since 2010. The illness is contracted through the bite of an infected deer tick or woodchuck tick. ![]() “We can look back to a time when cases were minimal, and it’s most certainly related to land-use issues, environment and the way we interact with the places we live, work and play.”Īnd for the first time, a rare case of the Powassan virus was reported by the Maine CDC in late June. Szantyr, a retired doctor from Lincoln who now lectures on Lyme disease. “Bacterial and parasitic tick-borne diseases that we track are absolutely increasing in case numbers in the state of Maine,” said Beatrice M. Visits exceeded 2020’s count of roughly 890 visits in June, but still behind those reported in June 2019 at approximately 2,590. Maine Tracking Network's real time tick trend shows about 1,329 emergency department visits in June. ![]() In 2019, that number was nearly double at 2,175. Last year, there were 1,121 cases of Lyme disease reported in Maine. The Maine CDC has logged 255 cases of Lyme disease, 298 cases of Anaplasmosis, and 37 cases of Babesiosis from Jan. “Climate also plays a role, with milder climate along the coast and in southern Maine than in northern parts of the state.” “Though northern Maine is heavily forested, these forests tend to be made up of coniferous trees, which do not provide ideal habitat for deer ticks or their preferred wildlife hosts,” said Griffin Dill, a tick specialist from the University of Maine’s Cooperative Extension. Cumberland recorded 40 cases, York with 32 and Kennebec at 38. The Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the southern counties of Cumberland, York and Kennebec have reported as of early summer the highest number of confirmed cases of Lyme disease in the state. “With Powassan for instance, we’ll probably try to work on getting surveillance programs up and running, to actually look for it, to go out and find it,” he said.The tick season in Maine is hitting the southern parts of the state the hardest so far this year, data show. The institute will continue to advise Mainers on what to do in case of a tick bite and maintain its surveillance work on tick-borne diseases, including the re-emerged Powassan virus, Lubelczyk said. The program does not test ticks for disease. Some programs have responded by charging customers, though MMC’s program identifies ticks for free. The institute pursued grant funding, but many agencies were reluctant to fund the work, a trend that has struck tick submission programs in other states, Lubelczyk said. A robust tick submission program needs about $16,000 to $20,000 a year to operate, he said. Maine Medical Center has funded the program on a shoestring budget, but recently pulled the plug after several years of losses amounting to $12,000 to $15,000 annually, Lubelczyk said. “We get everything from deer ticks to seeds to beetles to bedbugs,” he said. ![]()
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