Ticks are small, but mighty critters

It has long been known that “dynamite comes in small packages.” If you don’t believe me, just ask my wife. Right now, she is getting ready to call the doctor.

Let me explain. She came in from outside working on the farm only to find a tick firmly embedded on the side of her abdomen. While trying to remove it, we couldn’t get the head out. So, a trip to the doctor it is. Ticks are small, but mighty critters.

Pound for pound, these little varmints can make your life miserable and the effects of some bites can be long-lasting. The little boogers have chompers much like that of a pit bull and are equally as adhesive as super glue. They actually are not insects but arachnids. The deer tick is about the same size as the head of a pin and it is found in many parts of the United States.

Ticks probably exceed all other pests in the variety of diseases they can spread to humans and animals. The most commonly tick transmitted disease in Oklahoma is Rocky Mountain Spotted Tick Fever. The OSU Extension Center website says that the two states with the highest incidence of this disease are Oklahoma and North Carolina. These two states account for more than one third of the cases of Rocky Mountain Spotted Tick Fever annually.

Now, about Rocky Mountain Spotted Tick Fever. Allow me to testify. If the right tick bites you, it has a knockout punch. When I was in my 20s, I came down with a case of it. It was an unwelcome weightloss program. I weighed 128 pounds by the time the tick was finished with me. It took a hospital stay of a week-and-a-half plus several months of physical therapy to try to get my strength back. For further information on tick-borne diseases visit the Center for Disease Control website (www.cdc.gov).

When outdoors in areas that may house ticks, wear light-colored clothing so you can spot the ticks and brush them off before they become attached somewhere. Use insect repellents on your shoes and pant legs and tuck your pants into your socks. Avoid walking through tall grasses or shrubs, if possible.

One of the other diseases that deer ticks can carry is Lyme disease, especially in New England and parts of the Midwestern states. Lyme disease is actually very rare in Oklahoma. Ticks are active year-round and Oklahoma State University Extension Service maintains an impressive tick research program. They publish, online and in hard copy, fact sheets about common ticks of Oklahoma and tick-borne diseases. Check them out at osufacts.okstate.edu .

All species and sexes of ticks require a blood meal. This is unlike mosquitoes and other flies in which only females feed on blood. After becoming engorged (at which point they look like a grape), ticks drop off their hosts to molt, mate or lay eggs. Afterward, they will seek out another host. We attract ticks by our movement, body heat, and the carbon dioxide and lactic acid our bodies give off. Even in the winter, ticks can be active when the temperature is above 40 degrees.

If you are bitten, use fine-pointed tweezers to grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible without squeezing the tick’s body. Firmly, pull it straight out. Expect to feel some resistance. Never squeeze the tick in an attempt to get it to release from your body. Do not burn it or cover it with any substance. Contact your doctor if you have any of the following symptoms such as high fever, flu-like symptoms, a rash around the bite (especially if it appear like a bull’seye), sleeplessness, restlessness, loss of appetite, nausea or vomiting, pain in joints, muscles or eyes, swollen or tender lymph nodes, paralysis of hands and feet, itching or swelling around the bite.

A way of preventing tick infestation in your yard is to keep grass mowed to three inches or less. This lowers humidity at ground level, making it difficult for ticks to survive. There are a number of repellents on the market. Use one that indicates it is good against ticks and contains 20-40 percent of the active ingredient, DEET. Because DEET can melt plastics and take the finish off guns, take precaution when applying it. There is a running joke that Oklahoma is the tick capital of the United States. Don’t be a victim of a tick-borne illness as I was.

Reach Kilgore at jkilgoreoutdoors@yahoo.com