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: Ticks can be threats even in winter
byline">Jerry Davis For Capital Newspapers</span>
In Wisconsin, about two in five deer ticks carry the bacterium that causes Lyme disease.
Deer ticks are probably the last thing gun deer hunters were thinking about Saturday morning, while sitting on a seat cushion on the ground, fighting 30-mile-an-hour winds.
But unless there is snow on the ground, there may be one of those tiny arachnids crawling among the hunter’s orange cloth fiber clothing. And that tick could be carrying Lyme disease.
Ticks do show up more easily on this orange background than a grouse hunter’s brush pants.
“If there is no snow on the ground, there is the potential for deer ticks to be active, any place in the state,” said Phil Pellitteri, University of Wisconsin-Madison entomologist and deer hunter. “Usually it has to be somewhat sunny and about 40 degrees.”
While some locations and regions of Wisconsin provide better habitat than others, the thicker the understory the better tick habitat.
“Infectivity rate of adult ticks runs about 40 percent, or 2 in 5 ticks are carrying the bacterium that causes Lyme disease,” Pellitteri said.
Prophylactic treatment of one day’s antibiotic treatment is now recommended by the Centers for Disease Control if the person is in a state where the infectivity rate is above 20 percent and the tick has been attached for 36 to 48 hours.
Some hunters get concerned when handling a deer that have ticks that are dropping off, but Pellitteri said the risk is much greater from the ticks that are in the brush. Ticks that have been feeding are not like mosquitoes that go from human to human.
Deer hunters who are all bundled up in heavy clothing are not necessarily danger free from tick bites and therefore Lyme disease.
“Some fabrics are better at providing something to cling onto. Wool certainly is. Some of those ticks can be brought indoors on clothing, then crawl off and crawl onto someone’s skin,” Pellitteri said. “I’ve had deer ticks brought into my laboratory in the middle of January when there has been a 50-degree day.”
If deer movement is slow in the woods, spend a few moments looking for smaller animals, like ticks, crawling on your pants. They may be the same ticks that spent a few days catching a ride on the next deer that walks past your deer stand.
byline">Jerry Davis For Capital Newspapers</span>
In Wisconsin, about two in five deer ticks carry the bacterium that causes Lyme disease.
Deer ticks are probably the last thing gun deer hunters were thinking about Saturday morning, while sitting on a seat cushion on the ground, fighting 30-mile-an-hour winds.
But unless there is snow on the ground, there may be one of those tiny arachnids crawling among the hunter’s orange cloth fiber clothing. And that tick could be carrying Lyme disease.
Ticks do show up more easily on this orange background than a grouse hunter’s brush pants.
“If there is no snow on the ground, there is the potential for deer ticks to be active, any place in the state,” said Phil Pellitteri, University of Wisconsin-Madison entomologist and deer hunter. “Usually it has to be somewhat sunny and about 40 degrees.”
While some locations and regions of Wisconsin provide better habitat than others, the thicker the understory the better tick habitat.
“Infectivity rate of adult ticks runs about 40 percent, or 2 in 5 ticks are carrying the bacterium that causes Lyme disease,” Pellitteri said.
Prophylactic treatment of one day’s antibiotic treatment is now recommended by the Centers for Disease Control if the person is in a state where the infectivity rate is above 20 percent and the tick has been attached for 36 to 48 hours.
Some hunters get concerned when handling a deer that have ticks that are dropping off, but Pellitteri said the risk is much greater from the ticks that are in the brush. Ticks that have been feeding are not like mosquitoes that go from human to human.
Deer hunters who are all bundled up in heavy clothing are not necessarily danger free from tick bites and therefore Lyme disease.
“Some fabrics are better at providing something to cling onto. Wool certainly is. Some of those ticks can be brought indoors on clothing, then crawl off and crawl onto someone’s skin,” Pellitteri said. “I’ve had deer ticks brought into my laboratory in the middle of January when there has been a 50-degree day.”
If deer movement is slow in the woods, spend a few moments looking for smaller animals, like ticks, crawling on your pants. They may be the same ticks that spent a few days catching a ride on the next deer that walks past your deer stand.
