The coming weeks will witness large numbers of ticks, the parasites that carry Lyme disease, emerge in New England, experts said on Friday.
Ideal conditions have been created through abundant snow over the winter and a wet spring for ticks to come out in the warm weather and try to latch onto hosts, Reuters reported.
"The next three to four weeks is the peak season of risk," said Sam Telford, an infectious disease professor at Tufts University and an authority on Lyme disease.
"That's when the nymphal ticks emerge and appear in large numbers. It's going to be gangbusters the next few weeks," Telford said.
The nymphs, some as small as a period in a newspaper, are much harder to detect than the full-grown ticks more commonly seen in the fall.
Twice the number of ticks was discovered last week by Telford at a site he monitors on Nantucket, double the amount since last year.
Based on reports from a network of tick surveyors, the entire Northeast and Mid-Atlantic has been placed on red or high level of tick alert by the University of Rhode Island, which operates the Tick Encounter Resource Center.
Lyme disease is caused by bacteria carried by the blacklegged tick, commonly known as the deer tick. Headache, muscle pain and fatigue, and in some cases a tell-tale bull's-eye rash are reported to be early symptoms.
"The incidence of Lyme disease continues to rise in the region," according to Reuters. "New Hampshire health authorities reported nearly 1,700 cases of Lyme disease last year and the state now has the nation's highest incidence of the disease per 100,000 people, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."
Although Maine's colder climate was considered to make ticks feel less hospitable, crews tapping maple trees are seeing more of them than ever, said Ted St. Amand, an entomologist and district manager for the Atlantic Pest Solutions.
"There never was much concern because deer tick was not that prevalent inland from the coast," St. Amand said. "Now it's everywhere."
Risk of picking up ticks can be minimized by people wearing shoes and clothing that covers their feet and legs, wearing insect repellent and checking themselves for ticks after being outside, according to experts.
