There are many people who hold a sincere belief that ticks – and tick-related diseases – are fairly recent threats. They remember a childhood blissfully unconcerned about tick bites and unencumbered by tick precautions or tick checks. While burgeoning tick populations are increasing the likelihood of encountering a present-day tick threat, ticks are actually an ancient species… and tick-vectored diseases have been around for eons.
Is the Lone Star Tick Spreading?
Long Island is experiencing a lone star tick population explosion. These bloodthirsty arachnids (Yes, ticks are Arachnids!) have spread north and west from the American southeast, and are now a viable threat throughout nearly two-thirds of the country. They have been on Long Island for decades and are thriving due to a warming climate that allows for a longer breeding season. The East End is a hotbed of tick activity, and Suffolk County has one of the highest rates of tick-borne illness in the nation.
Female lone star ticks grow to approximately ¼ inch long, expanding to around twice that size after feeding. They are reddish-brown in color with a distinctive light-colored star on their backs. Adult males are a bit smaller, with whitish spots around the outside of their bodies. Female lone star ticks feed on blood meals and transmit diseases – including ehrlichiosis, alpha-gal syndrome, heartland virus, and an emerging bacterial infection called STARI.
Is Lyme Disease A Man-Made Disease?
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have been rethinking how diseases emerge and are transmitted to humans, oftentimes overlooking or ignoring scientific proof to the contrary. Fueled by its relatively recent identification in the 1970s and rapid growth since then, it has become fashionable in conspiracy-minded circles to suggest that Lyme disease may be a man-made illness.
This ignores all scientific evidence as well as the historical record. Lyme disease actually is thousands of years old, and its spread across the United States is inextricably tied to the country’s settlement and migration patterns. It is not a recent phenomenon, nor was it human-created or lab-mutated.
7 Tips For A Mosquito-Free Backyard Party
When you’re planning a summer party, there are so many details to attend to: invitations, food, decorations, entertainment, and much, much more. But is mosquito control on your event planning checklist?
Mosquitoes are the bane of any outdoor party, especially a sunset soiree occurring during the hours when these droning pests are most active. No one wants to deal with the annoyance of bug bites or to risk contracting a mosquito-borne disease while they’re just trying to have a good time.
So, how do you cross mosquitoes off your guest list?
Tick-Borne Disease: Alpha-gal syndrome (AGS)
It sounds like the plot of a horror movie: an innocent hiker is bitten by a bug, and suddenly they become violently ill every time they eat meat. Their skin erupts in hives, their throat swells, and they’re short of breath. It’s the stuff of nightmares.
As unsettling as it is, this scenario is all too real and is affecting a growing number of people each year. It’s called alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), a tick-borne condition that causes an allergy to alpha-gal… a sugar found in the tissues of most mammalian species. Only primates – which aren’t typically a source of human food – lack alpha-gal. AGS is spread through tick saliva (particularly after the bite of a lone star tick) and results in an allergy to meat, dairy, and other products derived from mammals.
Is It Ever Too Late To Start Mosquito Control Services?
Mosquito season can sneak up on you. Seems like one day you are bundled up against the cold and the next you’re fanning yourself in the heat swatting away mosquitoes. With so many things competing for our attention every day, it is easy to forget about mosquito mitigation until the problem becomes undeniable.
Allowing these aggravating pests to become established in your yard isn’t just a nuisance. Mosquitoes are vectors for serious diseases that can result in debilitating illness. Even if you didn’t get an early start on mosquito control, you can still significantly reduce your risk of mosquito bites and increase your peace of mind.
Why Do Mosquito Bites Itch?
Bug bites are one of summer’s biggest annoyances… right up there with Friday afternoon traffic on the LIE. Mosquito bites are particularly aggravating; their itching and swelling are hard to ignore. Why do mosquito bites itch so much? And what can be done to relieve the misery they cause?
Mosquito bites itch because of a reaction to proteins in the insect’s saliva. When a mosquito bites, it pierces the skin with its proboscis and feeds on blood. At the same time, the mosquito’s saliva is being injected into the skin. When the body registers the presence of the saliva, the immune system sends the chemical histamine to the site of the puncture – which leads to itching and inflammation.
Permethrin vs DEET
Summer is almost here, and that means spending more time outdoors. More outdoor time means more exposure to mosquitoes, ticks, and other biting insects. With the risk of pest-borne illnesses on the rise, we all want to choose the best possible product to repel the ticks and mosquitoes that spread them.
Do Fire-Dependent Ecosystems Reduce Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases?
It’s springtime on Long Island, which means the return of prescribed fire season. The New York Department of Environmental Conservation plans burns in four heavily wooded areas in Suffolk County alone. These burns are required by law and are not subject to Long Island’s seasonal burn ban.
Prescribed fires are a critical part of forest management… one that can help prevent uncontrolled fires from occurring. Longtime residents may remember devastating wildfires that occurred in the East End’s Pine Barrens – scorching thousands of acres, injuring firefighters, spurring evacuations, and damaging homes in the area.
Controlled burns also aid in pest management. How? By reducing the number of pathogen-carrying species like the forest-dwelling ticks that bedevil so much of Long Island’s East End.
What Is Thermacell?
Wouldn’t it be nice to enjoy your yard this summer, free from worries about mosquitoes and the diseases they carry? And wouldn’t it be great not to have to deal with messy mosquito sprays and smelly repellents?
Imagine telling your smart speaker to turn on mosquito protection before heading outdoors to sit by the pool, throw a ball to your dog, or watch your kids play in the yard. With a Thermacell LIV system, this could be your summer reality.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 11
- Next Page »
