With the increase of ticks this year in New York, here’s insight from Matt Frye, a entomologist at JP McHale Pest Management, Inc.
Tick and mosquito problems today are the result of very complex ecological interactions. Ticks are parasites of “edge species”, such as deer and mice that live in the ecotone between field and forest. Habitat fragmentation, or the conversion of forest to residential or commercial space has created an abundance of “edge”. This is why we see extremely high deer populations. Because we live near these created edges at property borders, our risk of being exposed to ticks is very high. Another reason for high tick populations is the large rodent population of 2011. A recent report from the Cary Institute in Millbrook, NY shows how complex the interactions can be between plants, rodents, ticks and humans.
One of the best ways to avoid Lyme disease is a daily tick check. New evidence suggests that ticks have to be attached for 24 hours or more before they transmit the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. Ticks should be removed with tweezers by pulling them out exactly the direction that they inserted into your skin. Ticks can be placed inside clear tape to immobilize them.
Homeowners can also help with mosquito reduction by eliminating standing water. Old tires, bird feeders, empty pots and other areas that accumulate water and promote the growth of algae are conducive to mosquitoes. In addition, local municipalities often survey for mosquitoes and implement control plans.
Warm weather means that ticks will be out early and spring and summer are on track to be a horrific season for lyme disease. Are you prepared?
The Wall Street Journal reports that The Center for Disease control (CDC ) is conducting the first study of its kind to determine whether spraying the yard for ticks can not only kill pests, but also reduce human disease. “Paul Mead, chief of epidemiology and surveillance activity at CDC’s bacterial-illness branch, says preliminary results from about 1,500 households indicate that a spray reduced the tick population by 60%.”
The Wall Street Journal Online has an interactive display that you can click on to learn how to prepare your yard for tick season. Some of the recommendations include:
Firewood piles and bird feeders should be kept away from your house.
Restrict the use of ground cover and plants that may attract deer.
Keep your grass mowed.
Keep your pets out of the woods.
Consider having targeted pesticides applied as a targeted treatment barrier.
JP McHale’s Pest Management Tick Protection Program can help protect your family and pets from diseases carrying ticks. Ticks are very small insects that feed on the blood of warm-blooded animals, including dogs, cats, mice, deer, and, of course, people. A tick will latch onto the skin, dig in its feeding apparatus, and then bite. When the tick is full, it swells in size. Then it drops off the host, only to repeat the cycle again later.
Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected blacklegged ticks. Steps to prevent Lyme disease include using insect repellent, removing ticks promptly, landscaping, and integrated pest management. The ticks that transmit Lyme disease can occasionally transmit other tick-borne diseases as well.
Applications are recommended based on statistics generated from the Center for Disease control studies that show reported cases of Lyme Disease. Statistically New York and Connecticut continue to be the areas with the most reported cases of Lyme Disease. Organic Treatments to reduce tick population are available upon request. As well as a free risk assessment for you property.
Please contact us if you are interested in our Tick Protection program.
Lyme disease is the most commonly reported vector-borne disease in the United States, with the majority of cases occurring in the Northeast. It has been three decades since the agent of the disease, the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, and the ticks that vector it were identified. However, the number of Lyme disease cases have steadily increased.
In a new article appearing in the forthcoming issue of the Journal of Medical Entomology called “What Do We Need to Know About Disease Ecology to Prevent Lyme Disease in the Northeastern United States?” authors from Colorado State University and the Centers for Disease Control assess the potential reasons for the continued lack of success in prevention and control of Lyme disease in the northeastern United States, and they identify conceptual areas where additional knowledge could be used to improve Lyme disease prevention and control strategies.
Some of these areas include:
1) identifying critical host infestation rates required to maintain enzootic transmission of B. burgdorferi,
2) understanding how habitat diversity and forest fragmentation impacts acarological risk of exposure to B. burgdorferi and the ability of interventions to reduce risk,
3) quantifying the epidemiological outcomes of interventions focusing on ticks or vertebrate reservoirs, and
4) refining knowledge of how human behavior influences Lyme disease risk and identifying barriers to the adoption of personal protective measures and environmental tick management.
The article briefly summarizes existing prevention and control strategies and tools aimed at reducing human exposure to vector ticks and B. burgdorferi, and highlights conceptual areas where additional studies on the enzootic transmission cycle or the human-tick interface are needed to fill in the knowledge gaps preventing the development of novel, more effective Lyme disease prevention strategies and tools or the implementation of existing ones.
Because the likelihood of human exposure to the tick and the pathogen both can be influenced by human behavior, the authors focus not only on the density of infected ticks, which represents the fundamental (or acarological) risk of human exposure to B. burgdorferi, but they also provide an overview of studies that identify behavioral risk factors and explore areas where additional information in this field are needed.
Story Source: The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Entomological Society of America. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
In addition to Lyme disease, deer ticks are transmitting greater cases of yet another tick-borne illness. Babesiosis, a parasitic disease, is carried by deer ticks and transmitted through their bites, just like Lyme disease. The Northeast and upper Midwest are both encountering greater numbers of cases, leaving a cause for public concern.
USA Today reports that approximately 1,000 cases are reported in affected areas each year, a number much lower than expected due to the way the disease works. Many victims of babesiosis don’t show any symptoms, thus leaving skewed reports.
Babesiosis works much like Lyme disease in that some cases do not present sure-fire symptoms, leaving the patient baffled by their unexplained flu-like symptoms. Tick bites that infect a human with babesiosis do not leave bulls’ eye rings or any other visible hints for proper identification.
There is an antibiotic treatment for babesiosis, but the disease is much more dangerous for elderly people, and those battling with compromised immune systems. Be sure to check out our latest tick blog on Lyme disease, and continue to check yourself and others for ticks when you return from the great outdoors!
The summer months are known for a high influx of pests, but disease-carrying pests are the ones you should be sure to keep your eyes peeled for.
Deer ticks. We’ve all heard of them, and how harmful their bites can be.
The scary reality… not all that are infected by Lyme disease will show proof by way of bulls’ eye rings. Lyme disease testing is one of those tricky diagnoses that present false negatives and positives rather frequently.
A lesson learned as a child that you should keep with you as you grow old, is to always search head-to-toe for ticks when returning from the outdoors.
The Times Herald Record reported that most people infected by Lyme disease do not recall being bitten or removing any ticks, so keeping up on your tick checks becomes imperative especially during the summer months.
The same article stated that according to the state Department of Health, 95,000 cases of Lyme disease have been documented since 1986 when the disease first became ‘reportable’.
Please don’t hesitate in checking yourself for ticks…we’d rather you be safe than sorry, and we’re sure you feel the same!
We all know how pesky mosquitoes can be, and how uncomfortable we become when they are present. The spring and summer season brings not only warmer temperatures, but greater moisture and precipitation. With the recent spring rain having followed such a snowy winter, we are noticing high levels of mosquito activity very early in the summer season. In addition to the discomfort we endure from these pests’ itchy bites, mosquitoes represent a human health risk with their ability to spread various diseases including West Nile Virus and St. Louis Encephalitis.
Mosquitoes lay their eggs and spend most of their life cycle in and around moist areas. Draining buckets, birdbaths, or other potential basins for stagnant water, as well as sealing entryways into the home with proper screening will help to reduce the severity of mosquito activity in and around your home. At JP McHale Pest Management, we offer our Vector Intervention Program, which targets disease-carrying mosquitoes as well as ticks and rodents capable of infecting humans with Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Ehrlichiosis, Hantavirus and more. Any family that has small children or pets could greatly benefit from this program which will help in the prevention of itchy bites and harmful diseases. Make sure you take proper action to keep yourself healthy and comfortable throughout the summer months!
Summer has arrived and everyone loves to enjoy the outdoors. Mosquitoes and ticks are very active during the late spring so people have to be cautious not to get Lyme disease or the West Nile Virus. Yesterday on WebMD an author published an article rating the top 6 insect repellents judged by Consumer Reports, focusing mainly against mosquito and tick bites. The top repellents included the following: Off Deep Woods Sportsmen, Cutter Backwoods Unscented, Off FamilyCare Smooth & Dry, 3M Ultrathon Insect Repellent 8, Repel Plant Based Lemon Eucalyptus, Natrapel 8-House with picaridin. 5/6 of these products contain between 15 and 30% DEET, an active and very effective chemical in repelling insects. Consumer Reports had volunteers spray on the repellents and put mosquitoes and deer ticks on the volunteers. The repellents protected the volunteers for seven or more hours! Consumer Reports also notes that people should not use DEET on babies and no higher than 30% when using both a sunscreen and insect repellent in one. DEET is safe in proper amounts but when people apply sunscreen, they usually apply excessively so they do not get burnt. Other ways to prevent insects from biting you include the following:
Wear long sleeve, light clothing
Do not be outside at dawn or dusk when mosquitoes are most active
Make sure there is not stagnant water built up
Inspect your body to look for suspicious marks or spots on your body
When using candles outside in a space, position them in the corners on the floor
Water down the area before a gathering because bees do not like water or wet areas
By following these tips you will have a happy and healthy summer. For more information or help with a tick, mosquito, or any other problem feel free to contact us by phone 800-479-2284, email, live chat, facebook, or twitter. We even offer a special VIP Program that protects your lawn specifically from ticks, mosquitoes, and rodents. Read more about ticks and mosquitoes in our other blog posts! Tick Blog, Mosquito Blog. JPMcHale is one of the leading pest control companies in Westchester, New York, we would love to help you with your pest problems!
As most of you know, here in the northeast we have been receiving a massive about of rain fall this month (June). We have said before, this rain will bring out high populations of Ticks, Mosquitoes and Carpenter Ants. These pests also carry diseases which are harmful to humans.
Ticks can carry Lyme Disease. When not spotted and dealt with, it can lead to major peoples. Residex was awesome enough to provide us with a great Q&A regarding Lyme Disease. Here is what they had to say…
1. What causes Lyme Disease and how would I contract it?
Lyme Disease is caused by a bacterium from a group of bacteria known as Spirochetes. Spirochetes are corkscrew-shaped bacteria that can actually bore into essential organs and other tissues of the body, and can go into dormancy for long periods of time. The Lyme Spirochete is called Borrelia burgdorferi, and it is transmitted to humans and pets by the black legged (deer) tick and the lonestar tick. When an infected tick bites, it transfers spirochete bacteria into the blood stream of humans and pets.
2. How will I know if a tick bite transmitted Lyme Disease?
There is an early warning bull’s-eye rash in the area of the bite that some, but not all, bite victims see. The other early warning sign is the embedded feeding tick itself. Unfortunately most victims of Lyme Disease never know that they were bitten by an infected tick, and go untreated until concerning health issues begin to manifest within the victim. Detection of embedded ticks is difficult because of the black legged tick’s extremely small size
3. What should I do if I find an embedded tick on my body?
The tick must be carefully removed either by a medical professional, or you can do it yourself or have someone assist you. A proper removal device is necessary to firmly grasp the tick by the mouthparts only and gently remove the tick from the skin. Do not grasp the tick by its abdomen because pressure will force the tick to regurgitate its gut contents, which may contain disease microbes, into the bloodstream. Save the tick for proper identification by a trained professional.
4. Are there removal methods that I should avoid?
Yes. Never use alcohol, lit matches, cigarettes, insecticides, repellants, gasoline, ammonia, or any other solvent or heat source to remove any embedded tick. All of these methods cause the tick to regurgitate the contents of its gut into the victim’s bloodstream, which further increases the likelihood of contracting a tick- borne disease.
5. What happens if I get Lyme Disease?
The nature of your illness will depend on the length of time that Lyme Disease goes untreated. Additionally, not all humans respond the same way to this very complex disease, and ticks can also transmit more than one type of disease with a single bite further complicating a proper diagnosis and treatment. Lyme Disease is a syphilitic-type condition that left untreated can cause severe debilitating issues both physically and mentally. This stage is known as chronic Lyme, and is very difficult to diagnose and treat. Early stages of Lyme Disease can be completely cured with common antibiotics issued by a medical doctor. However catching Lyme Disease in its early stages is difficult at best, and many physicians and laboratories lack the experience and testing protocols to properly identify the disease.
6. How can I prevent contact with Lyme Disease?
Currently there are only a few preventative measures to protect your family and self from contracting Lyme Disease and no method is guaranteed. Lyme Disease is a 49 State issue and not just a problem of the Northeast. At present time, it is known that black legged ticks and lonestar ticks are disease vectors of Lyme. Avoiding human contact with ticks is the critical element in prevention. Unfortunately there isn’t a human Lyme vaccine at this time, although there is one for your pets available through a veterinarian. So without a vaccine, all humans are vulnerable to this very serious disease.
7. Who is most at risk to contract Lyme Disease?
Since Lyme Disease is a disease of the active population who use the outdoors as their playground for sports, hobbies and other activities, children, athletes and outdoors adventurers are highly susceptible to coming into contact with disease carrying ticks. Playgrounds, parks, trails, fields and your very own backyard are the harborage areas for Lyme-carrying ticks. This condition is more related to the deer and mouse populations in these areas versus the human populations. The deer and the white-footed mouse are reservoir hosts of Lyme Disease, and wherever these animals are found, you are surely to find Lyme infected ticks. As deer and mouse populations go unchecked because of local and state regulations, the disease spreads at uncontrolled rates. Lobby your local and state legislators to get control of these out-of-control animal populations in densely human populated areas.
8. What is the most effective preventative control method available today?
An insecticide application to the lawn and wooded transition zone around your home is an effective method to kill ticks that are present in areas where humans and pets are active. These applications should be rendered by a licensed professional pest control operator with a deep understanding of tick biology and treatments. Most professional pest control operators understand the concerns of homeowners when applying insecticides in areas where pets and children play and use extreme care and sound judgment in the selection of the right product for your situation. Lyme-carrying ticks are a serious threat to public health, yet many legislators are banning the use of effective pesticides due to the unproven claims levied by special interest groups. Tell your state and local legislators that you demand protection against Lyme Disease, and effective pesticides are the only viable weapons for prevention at this time.
9. Are there any non-pesticide methods available?
Non-pesticide methods of prevention include staying out of areas where deer and field mice frequent including your yard, wearing white clothing for ease of detection, inspecting your body thoroughly after returning from areas where deer and mice live, using tick repellants on clothes and skin, maintaining a well-manicured lawn and removing all leaf and litter debris from the surrounding property, treating pets with a tick repellant, keeping field mice from entering the home or other out properties. All of these methods along with a residual insecticide application should be incorporated into a comprehensive tick control program. There are no guarantees that you or a family member will not contract Lyme Disease even if all of these methods are employed due to the number of variables outside of your control and the professional applicator’s control.
Lobby your elected officials to protect humans from the serious effects of Lyme Disease.
Written by Christopher Donaghy, Board Certified Medical Entomologist.
With the increase of ticks this year in New York, here’s insight from Matt Frye, a entomologist at JP McHale Pest Management, Inc.
In addition to 
The summer months are known for a high influx of pests, but 
