Heavy tick infestations in local areas

The blood-feeding parasites known as ticks are showing up at a rapid pace as the weather warms up.

Dusty farmer Kimberley Gustafson said she noticed tick infestations were heavy along the Alkali Creek and a large number were found on her cattle and and horses.

Gustafson said their cattle prevention technique was successful this year. They use a skin treatment that they pour over their cattle, and it goes throughout the cattle’s system before the tick season picks up.

She said area ticks are most active at the end of March, through early May.

“Some years are worse than others,” Gustafson said.

Stephen Van Vleet, Washington State University extension educator in Colfax, said the population size of ticks is climate based. If there is a mild winter, there should be a larger population.

He said this year is considered a mild winter, so there is already a large amount of ticks being found, and there are more to come.

Van Vleet said even if there are freezing temperatures and a lot of snow during the winter, ticks can still survive.

“People don’t realize, but ticks are just as much in the grass as they are in forest,” he said.

Van Vleet advised people to constantly check themselves and pets. If they find a tick, he advises them to remove it slowly if it has attached itself.

After it is removed, a tick can be disposed by cutting it with a knife.

“People are told a tick’s head can break off if you’re not careful, but very rarely a head will break off,” he said.

In Whitman County there are deer ticks, and those types of ticks do not carry Lyme disease, but they do carry Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Van Vleet said.

Rocky Mountain spotted fever symptoms include a fever, headache and rash. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, a rash can develop a few days after the first signs of a fever. Treatment for the illness is an antibiotic.

The Washington State Department of Health has a collection program for residents to send in ticks they find on themselves or pets.

Washington State Entomologist Elizabeth Dykstra said the official surveillance program began in the fall of 2010 with the overall goal of finding tick species in Washington and how they are distributed.

The surveillance program allows for the testing of pathogens in the ticks.

For example, the department found some people in Washington were getting sick with a tick-born relapse fever that is usually carried by ticks that have a soft outer shell.

They found that in this case, it was being carried by ticks with hard outer shells.

To determine if ticks are particularly bad each year, the department relies on what locals observe, Dykstra said.

“We are seeing more of what we typically see during this time of year, but it is more localized,” she said.

Those interested in submitting a tick must fill out an identification submission form. One must place the tick in a crush-proof container, like a plastic pill bottle and freeze it to kill the tick, then ship the container in a padded envelope.

The tick must be dead before being shipped. Information that must be included on the submission form includes date of collection, where it was found and if it was attached.

Packages should be addressed to WA Tick Identification Zoonotic Disease Program, PO Box 47825 Olympia, WA 98504.

The submission form can be found at https://www.doh.wa.gov/Portals/1/Documents/Pubs/333-179.pdf

Liz Coleman, spokesperson for the Washington State Department of Health Environmental Health, said the program identifies the type of tick sent in, but not the disease it might be carrying.

Coleman said there are oral prescriptions and topical ways to prevent ticks. The oral supplement should be given once a month, and the topical medicine is placed on the animal’s skin.

Coleman said people going on hikes or just being outside should wear long-sleeve shirts and tuck their pants into their socks.

Just make sure you check yourself after you’ve been outside, Coleman said.