WATCH OUT FOR THESE HITCHHIKERS AFTER RAIN
Expect an uptick in ticks — that's the message from the experts after January's historic storms soaked the Monterey Peninsula, creating the perfect conditions for a big tick year.
“Ticks love moisture,” said Linda Giampa, executive director of the Bay Area Lyme Foundation. Monterey's sometimes foggy, rainy coast is an ideal tick habitat. “The rain wakes them up. We've had a lot of rain this year so we're expecting a higher prevalence of ticks.”
As people return to the outdoors to enjoy the sunny weather, researchers and health experts encourage recreators to keep an eye out for those pesky little eight-legged blood-suckers. Ticks can't fly or jump, but they do go “questing” — they hold onto leaves and grass with their back legs and reach their front legs out hoping to hitch a ride on a warm-blooded host. Even though tickborne disease is less common here than other parts of the U.S., it does occur and it's important to catch and treat it early. Experts say preventing tick bites in the first place is key.
Tick 101
Ticks are around all year in California, but most bites from disease-carrying ticks occur in late winter and early spring, when nymphs are out in full force and some adults are still biting.
Ticks have a three-year life cycle. As they grow, they feed on animals, and sometimes they pick up pathogens (bacteria or other organisms that cause disease) from those animals.
In the first year, eggs hatch and develop into larvae. In the second year, larvae grow into nymphs, which start biting in the late winter or early spring of their final year of life — the same time that fully-grown adults are having their last meals. Ticks die shortly after mating and/or laying eggs. Nymphs are especially efficient biters — they're tiny so they're harder to see and they can burrow in without getting detected.
A bite doesn't necessarily mean infection — not all ticks carry disease, and it can take some time for the pathogens to move from the tick into the victim's body. So there may be a little time to remove a tick before a bad infection occurs.
But, “the most important thing for people to remember
is to prevent tick bites in the first place,” said Kristy Michie, assistant director of public health at the Monterey County Health Department. Michie said best practice for recreating where ticks might be is to use insect repellent when possible and wear light-colored clothes so you can see ticks on them. When you go back inside, change clothes, shower and check for ticks. “Make sure that if you got any ticks on you, get them off before they have a chance to bite,” she said.
Biologists monitor ticks by taking a white flannel cloth out into the field. “They literally sweep it across the
grasses or the chaparral or anything that's near a path because the idea is to tell people who are hiking what's there,” said Giampa. They identify anything they collect and test Western black-legged ticks — the ones that spread Lyme — for pathogens.
Lyme disease isn't too common around here. According to the California Department of Public Health, Monterey County had six cases of confirmed Lyme disease between 2012 and 2021.
Giampa said less than 10 percent of ticks carry pathogens in Monterey County,
placing the county fourth in the state. It's a steep step down from the top — Mendocino County, Sonoma County and Marin County, in that order, have the highest rates in the state with around 30 percent of the ticks carrying pathogens.
But Giampa said that 10 percent number is still really important — it's not like there's zero risk.
Giampa also wants people to be aware that ticks could be lurking, not just in the forest, but also near the beach. A four-year study, funded by the Bay Area Lyme Foundation and published in 2021, found ticks in vegetation near paths to beaches in Northern California, including Monterey County. Giampa said they were surprised by the finding.
And Lyme disease isn't the only tick-borne disease of concern. According to the California Department of Public Health, in California, Western blacklegged ticks can also spread anaplasmosis. Soft ticks can spread tick-borne relapsing fever. American dog ticks and brown dog ticks can spread Rocky Mountain spotted fever. So can Pacific Coast ticks, and they can also spread Pacific Coast tick fever, a newer disease that appeared in the area around 2016. Monterey is one of only three counties with reported cases.
“It doesn't create the bullseye rash that Lyme disease does, but it creates this really ugly black spot on your arm,” said Michie.
Tick this off your list: What to do about a bite
CDPH says if you do find a tick on you, get rid of it immediately. If it's just sitting there — brush it off. If it's already embedded, pull it out right away.
Use clean tweezers and grip as close to the skin as possible. Pull it out with steady, even pressure. If the head or mouth-parts break off, try to get them out. And don't squish it — if it does have pathogens they can spread.
Don't try things like painting it with nail polish or burning it — a wise entomologist once said, “If someone lit a fire under your butt, what would you do? That tick will just dig further in.”
Wash your hands and the bite area with soap and water after the tick is removed, and apply an antiseptic to the bite area. Then monitor yourself for symptoms. If you develop a rash or flulike symptoms within 30 days of a bite you should see your doctor.
You can also save the tick and get it tested to see if it's carrying disease. Giampa said Tick Report and Ticknology are two places you can send ticks for testing. “If you get that information back and … the tick was completely clean of all pathogens, you can feel pretty good about that.”
The Health Department doesn't actually recommend testing. “There's a couple of reasons for that,” said Michie. “One is as I mentioned before…even if it bites you and the tick has Lyme disease that doesn't mean that you necessarily are infected with Lyme disease. The other reason is that the tests are not perfect. So if your tick comes back negative for Lyme, it could be a false negative. And we don't want people to be complacent about their risk for a tick-borne disease just because of test results. And also not every lab tests for all the tick-borne diseases.”
Either way, if you get a tick bite, mention it to a doctor just in case. Giampa said sometimes patients with tick bites get brushed off by physicians in areas like Monterey County that don't see a lot of cases of these diseases. “To this day, physicians will say, `Don't worry about it, there's no Lyme in California,'” she said.
The Bay Area Lyme Foundation has resources to help patients advocate for themselves. They provide studies and materials that patients can take with them to an appointment. “We want to arm people to go to their physicians to say, you know, look at this, could it be Lyme,” said Giampa, “to say yes, there is Lyme in California.”
“We're really blessed here,” said Michie. “We have lots of outdoor space to recreate in and we want to encourage people to go outside and do those healthy activities, but to make sure that they're prepared and prevent insects and tick bite when possible.” And, she added, don't forget about your pets — check them for ticks too.