Maddy Lauria/The News Journal via AP
Tick season is here, and a moist spring may mean there will be more of them this year. To find out what you need to know to avoid tick-born illnesses when you venture into the outdoors, we spoke to Dr. Rachel Herlihy, state communicable disease epidemiologist for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
There are lots of different tick species, in Colorado and throughout the U.S. The types of ticks you have in your community are really what determines what types of infections or diseases you can potentially get from them. There are a variety of them. One of the most common ones we think about is Lyme Disease, and that is spread by a tick we actually do not have in Colorado, so Lyme Disease is not something you will catch from a tick here.
There are a variety of them. One of the most common ones we think about is Lyme Disease, and that is spread by a tick we actually do not have in Colorado, so Lyme Disease is not something you will catch from a tick here.
What we do have here are other types of infections. We have an infection called Colorado tick fever, there’s a less common infection called Rocky Mountain spotted fever, another infection called Tularemia, another called tickborne relapsing fever. There’s also an unusual illness called tick paralysis. That’s actually not an infection, it’s a reaction to tick saliva that can occur.
We see ticks in the plains as well as at higher elevations. The area you’re in determines what ticks you’re going to see. The tick we see more commonly at elevation is the Rocky Mountain Wood Tick. The ticks we see at lower elevations are going to be dog ticks. We have the Brown Dog Tick and the American Dog Tick in Colorado.
Read more via The Denver Post.
