Tag Archives: Lyme disease
Ticks and summertime
Everyone who agrees with this statement, raise your hands. “The world would be a better place without ticks!” Ha, just as I suspected! Everyone who has ever “gotten a tick” raised their hands. Everyone else has a blank look on their face. For the uninitiated, ticks are eight-legged arachnids more closely related to spiders than insects. While all tick species feed on blood, some feed on wild animals and rarely bite people. Other ticks readily hitch rides on, and bite humans. Ticks are most commonly encountered in fields or… Read More →
Lyme disease ticks in Texas
The good news is that the number of Lyme disease cases appears to be low and even declining in Texas. The bad news is that the tick that carries Lyme disease is well established in Texas and its range appears to be expanding. Even though we don’t hear as much about it here in Texas, Lyme disease is the most common insect-transmitted disease in the U.S.–even more than west Nile virus. Caused by a bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, and carried by infected black-legged ticks, Lyme can be a chronic… Read More →