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Ticks are a problem regardless. And they don’t like too much heat. So climate warming may even reduce their population in some parts. Or, more likely, move them
by mantas 3mo ago
Ticks are a problem regardless. And they don’t like too much heat. So climate warming may even reduce their population in some parts. Or, more likely, move them up north. Giving relieve to some and headache to others…
Lyme disease vaccine would help a ton though. I’ve had Lyme 3 times by now. Thankfully encephalitis stab is a thing.
- Dumblydorr 3mo agoThey don’t like heat? That seems incorrect. If true, Then why are they a huge problem in TX and other southerly areas, and are only now spreading north?
- bluGill 3mo agoThey are a huge problem in Minnesota as well.
- SoftTalker 3mo agoDifferent species I belive. Ticks in Texas are differnent from ticks in Ottowa. Most lyme disease in the US is concentrated in the northeast and northern great lakes states and into Canada (though it is spreading over the past few decades). https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/data-research/facts-stats/lyme-disease-case-map.html https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/data-research/facts-stats/lyme-dise...
- to11mtm 3mo agoCorrect. Texas has the 'Lone star Tick' primarily. But in Michigan for example we've had the Blacklegged tick (which is the main species known to carry Lyme in our state...) for a looong time.
- bitwalker 3mo agoThey seem to be much less active on hot days compared to cooler days in my experience - though I can't say why. I've definitely observed a difference over the years though. That said, whether it is hotter or cooler doesn't make much of a difference in terms of how you go about your day - you pretty much have to assume you can encounter them regardless.
- cmrdporcupine 3mo agoIt's the length and depth of cold days in the winter that can potentially limit their breeding populations, is my understanding. So the issue is that more northerly areas are getting much more variance in temperature and lacking long deep consistent cold periods. Up and down cycles in temperature have always been a thing on the North American continent but climate change has made it even more variable. We will still get places where it gets very very cold but not for the consistent chunks of time it takes to set back tick populations significantly. TLDR I don't think it's the heat or cold per se but the variance. And yes climate change is absolutely the prime factor in their spread. Into places where they were not ever a threat before.
- Marsymars 3mo ago> So the issue is that more northerly areas are getting much more variance in temperature and lacking long deep consistent cold periods. It impacts the population, but even a couple solid weeks of -20C weather doesn't seem to be enough to eradicate them.
- b112 3mo agoTicks have always been around Ottawa, and even in 2011? I recall -40C for well over a week, and obviously cold temps around that week. Insects lay eggs, and also go dormant under fallen leaves typically. The snow + leaves insulates them, it's how live insects survive the winter. If you watch robins in the spring, before the ground thaws, you'll see them flipping over leaves. They're eating loads of insects hiding, most still torpid from the cold. -40C isn't a problem for ticks to live through in this way. In terms of population, everything follows predator/prey cycles. Nothing is static. It's normal for populations to "explode", eventually predators will grow in numbers too. I see it with noseeums here, and dragonflies. There are almost no noseeums this year, but loads of dragonflies, which means the dragonfly population will collapse, and soon (couple of years) the noseemums will be relentless. But then the dragonflies will grow in numbers, with plentiful food, and the cycle will repeat. It's natural. Global warming may shift habitats, but these ticks are normally here. They're not new.
- andrewl 3mo agoI think it's that they need humidity or else they dry out. So hot and humid is fine. Hot and arid is what they have a problem with.
- bregma 3mo agoOttawa summers are hot and very humid but the ticks disappear during that season.
- bregma 3mo agoThe black-legged tick season in Ottawa is March through June and again September through November. Summer (deerfly season) is just too hot for them and they go to ground. We do all the best camping in January and February. Why, you might ask, when it's usually colder than -20 C? No ticks. Also no mosquitos, blackflies, or deerflies but mostly no ticks.
- mihular 3mo agoAFAIK there was a Lyme disease vaccine, but was discontinued, probably because it wasn't effective enough, I don't remember the details.
- gramie 3mo agoThere has been a vaccine for dogs and cats for a while now, not sure why it hasn't been released for humans yet. Lyme can be really horrible. Some people we know have a 30-something son who was very active (camping, hiking, rock climbing, etc.) until he was bitten by a tick. Now he's quadriplegic.
- nik282000 3mo agoLots of drugs work for dogs and cats because they don't live longer than 25yrs. A human has 3-4x the lifespan during which side effects can be worse than the disease.
- kadoban 3mo agoIs that true? I don't know of really any medicine that has side effects 25 years down the line. Would we even know? We don't test new meds that long before release. Isn't it more because meds are cheaper to test on animals and liability is much lower?
- b112 3mo agoI think the original, mouse brain derived Japanese Enephilitis vaccine, now discontinued, caused symptoms years later. But prions were the cause, and those are slow acting. The new, safer vaccine is only recommended if you're going to Japan or surrounding areas, and planning to going outside the city.
- nik282000 3mo agoWhen I asked why there is no human equivalent of flea/tick drops my vet said it was because "when you only live to be 20, you don't worry about smoking when you are 10."
- kzrdude 3mo agoNorway is projected to have growth in ticks and new tick species because of climate change (warmer and more humid climate), so that's one example of it moving north (though ticks seem to always have been in Norway?)
- Y-bar 3mo agoSweden appear to have the same trajectory: https://www.svt.se/nyheter/sapmi/fastingar-finns-nu-over-hela-landet-ackligt https://www.svt.se/nyheter/sapmi/fastingar-finns-nu-over-hel... (run article through your translator of choice)
- SoftTalker 3mo agoSo there's no natural immunity after having it once? How would a vaccine work then?
- zukzuk 3mo agoThere are many strains. You will develop immunity to one strain, but not the others. I assume a vaccine would try to be multivalent.
- mantas 3mo agoEven for the specific strain, it's not long-lived and strong enough.
- DANmode 3mo ago“Lyme” colloquially covers half a dozen to a dozen different bacterial infections.
- bregma 3mo ago"Lymne" refers to an infection by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, a bacteria closely related to syphillis. There are plenty of other tick-borne diseases (including localized staph infections at bite sites that can lead to necrotizing fasciitis) Just like with syphillis, there is a cheap and simple cure that is more effective than any known vaccine. If it's caught in time. Prevention is even cheaper. The standard treatment for Lyme also just happens to be the standard treatment for many of the other tick-borne diseases, so you're still better-off taking a course of doxycycline after a tick byte than getting a vaccination against Lyme.
- DANmode 3mo ago> Lymne" refers to an infection by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi There are also common coinfections which are grouped under the same name, despite being unique.
- mantas 3mo ago
- cmrdporcupine 3mo agoI don't understand why we're not vaccinating deer populations, even if we're not vaccinating humans out of safety concerns, etc. That and deer populations need to be significantly culled (along with rodents, the other part of the Lyme / deer tick population cycle). In any case, lack of long consistent extended cold spells in the winter to set back their breeding population is the reason they've moving further north. Which is tied directly to climate change.
- bethekidyouwant 3mo agoI believe mice are the main host of tick populations
- cmrdporcupine 3mo agoThe black legged tick has a complicated lifecycle which includes both rodents and deer (or other large mammals I believe)
- nik282000 3mo agoClearly we should be banning all rodent/deer contact until the tick population is under control.
- giardini 3mo agocmrdporcupine says "I don't understand why we're not vaccinating deer populations, even if we're not vaccinating humans out of safety concerns, etc. That and deer populations need to be significantly culled (along with rodents, the other part of the Lyme / deer tick population cycle)." Yep, we should extend the deer hunting seasons so we can vaccinate 'em with lead (I'll leave the rat hunting to others).
- chairmansteve 3mo agoRodent populations are notoriously hard to control. But it seems that a deer cull would be easy. I am surprisec that they are not done.
- bluerooibos 3mo ago> Ticks are a problem regardless. Ticks in my part of the world were never such a large problem. It was rare that you'd get one on your leg in the field behind our house, and now, you literally can't walk through the grass each year without having 10+ on your legs in a matter of minutes. Warmer and wetter weather and fewer hard winters. The presence of Lyme disease has also increased in them. I have direct experience of this, so downvote all you want, climate change deniers.
- mantas 3mo agoIn my whereabouts ticks were common 70+ years ago too. But nobody seemed to give a damn about them since disease-carrying ticks were not a problem. Talking to my grandma, it was common to have ticks in her youth. But now a massive chunk of them is lyme or encephalitis carrying. And suddenly it did become a problem ~ 20-30 years ago.