As the dog days of summer arrive, Delaware State Tick Biologist Dr. Ashley Kennedy says tick awareness is more important than ever.

“There are at least 15 species that I am confident we have surviving and reproducing in Delaware,” said Kennedy. “We know of a few others that have been found here, but I am not convinced they are still here. So that true number might be higher.”

Of those known species, many do not pose a threat to humans or pets. Delaware is home to many wildlife specialist ticks, which means they have only a few preferred victims. One of these wildlife specialist ticks is the beaver tick, which almost exclusively is found on beavers and muskrats. 

“Most of those 15 I’m not worried about," Kennedy said. "The ones I worry about are the black-legged ticks or deer ticks, and the lone star tick."

Black-legged ticks and lone star ticks are the most common found in Delaware, but lone star ticks are much more frequently found.

During a recent field test of Fresh Pond at Delaware Seashore State Park, Kennedy and two college interns collected ticks using tick flags, light-colored pieces of cloth that are dragged across grassy areas. After about 30 minutes of tick flagging, Kayla Norris, a student at La Salle University, and David Kern, a student at the University of Delaware, had found only one black-legged tick; the rest of their collected species were lone stars. 

They also are known as generalist ticks, meaning they will bite people, dogs, cats and anything else they can find. 

“That is what makes them so dangerous," Kennedy said. "They might feed first on a mouse and pick up bacteria from that mouse, and then later feed on a person. So it gives an opportunity for a pathogen to jump from a wildlife species to humans.”

“I'm also worried about a species called the longhorned tick, and that one is an invasive species," Kennedy continued. "It only showed up here in 2019 for the first time, but I don't like how aggressively it is spreading, and its numbers are growing. Every year, its numbers are about three to four times higher than the year before, so I don't like its rate of growth.”

Lone star ticks are dangerous in their abundance because they can transmit diseases, most notably alpha-gal syndrome. Someone who has alpha-gal syndrome can develop an allergy to red meats and dairy products. 

Despite the invasive nature of the longhorned tick and the abundance of lone star ticks, the scariest tick is the black-legged tick, said Kennedy. 

In Delaware, the black-legged tick sickens more people than any other tick. There are five known pathogens that it carries: Lyme disease, babesiosis, anaplasmosis, tick-borne relapsing fever and Powassan virus.

“We found in Delaware, between 35% and 50% of the black-legged ticks are carrying the agent of Lyme disease,” said Kennedy. 

Powassan virus, although extremely rare, is especially dangerous because unlike other pathogens that can take up to 24 hours to transmit to the host, it only takes 15 minutes after a tick bite for Powassan virus to be transmitted.

Kennedy recommended taking these steps to help prevent tick bites:

• Dress smart by wearing light-colored clothes that make it easier to spot ticks, and limit skin exposure by wearing long sleeves, long pants and tucking pants into socks

• Avoid walking in tall grass, leaf litter or in wooded areas, and stay in the center of walking trails

• When in tick habitats, use tick repellant and follow the label to use it as directed

• Do tick checks when coming back indoors. Either use a mirror or ask for help so all areas of your body can be checked

If bitten by a tick, one should take a picture and upload it to de.gov/ticks where an expert will identify it and respond to help evaluate the risk. The tick should be saved in a container or plastic bag and put it in the freezer with the date the bite occurred. If one becomes sick, experts can use the tick to help identify the illness.