Lyme-Carrying Ticks in Large Quantities Discovered on California Beaches

A new study showed that disease-ridden, specifically, Lyme-carrying ticks usually found in wooden places, are also inhabiting Northern California beaches.

The Hill reported that researchers of the said new study discovered ticks in large quantities in the brush outlying the beaches people tend to walk through so they could reach the sand.

According to research scientist Daniel Salkeld, from the Colorado State University, who also led the study, they were "looking at coastal scrub and looked at red forests and oak woodlands," as everyone tends to look at the same types of places.

There, the research scientists added, they found ticks pretty much everywhere they looked. The fact that these infectious ticks are typically believed to be linked to wooden areas highlights the unknowns surrounding how pervasive they are.

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Lyme Disease

Lyme disease, as described in this report, is a well-known disease associated with ticks, and is the result of an infected blacklegged tick bite.

While it is difficult to diagnose, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have estimated that approximately 480,000 people are infected with Lyme disease every year.

Discovering ticks in these coastal areas was particularly surprising since western grey squirrels, the typical 'source of infection' for ticks, do not usually inhabit these places.

The study entitled0" Examining prevalence and diversity of tick-borne pathogens in questing Ixodes pacificus ticks in California," published in the Applied and Environmental Microbiology journal, did not identify what animal is causing the contagious ticks in these coastal places, and Salkeld there would be a need for ecologists to do more research to identify the cause.

Tick Bite Remedy

According to a USA TODAY report, these so-called little arachnids can be a considerable problem for individuals who venture outdoors.

Ticks, the report specified, can be more than just a nuisance because they can also transmit the disease. This fact may most be widely identified in Pennsylvania, which has had the most Lyme disease cases from ticks in the country each year since 2011.

This is the time of year when tick bites are common. According to Lyme and Tick Borne Disease coordinator within the Pennsylvania Bureau of Epidemiology at the Department of Health, Leah Lind, they've been seeing a rise in visits to the emergency room.

As a remedy to tick bites, Lind added one does not have to seek medical attention for all tick bites. Consult the doctor, she recommended, only when the skin appears to be infected, swollen or red.

Ticks' Typical Occurrence

According to the Dr. Jane Huffman Wildlife Genetics Institute at East Stroudsburg University director, Nicole Chinnici, ticks like moist, cool conditions, and that is when they are widespread on taller grasses.

Ticks, the expert said, are more active in the morning, the day's cooler and wet time. And when it's hot and dry, they sty underneath leaf litters in search for moisture.

However, added Chinnici, this time of year that it is easier to see them in grassy places and along field lines where there is moisture atop the foliage.

She also said a snowy winter is protecting ticks as the show contributes to their incubation in the cold environment.

A similar report is shown on Actual News's YouTube video below: