Outdoors enthusiasts may want to take extra precaution when they’re out hiking, walking or enjoying the state’s natural scenes. The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station recently released its statewide tick surveillance results, and they were less than promising.
Alongside death and taxes, ticks are a common constant in Connecticut. With the most prominent tick-borne disease in the world — Lyme disease — named after a Connecticut small town, it’s no secret that our state has more than its fair share of the creepy pests.
That’s unlikely to change anytime soon, according to CAES’s recent work. There are two major takeaways from the surveillance program: there are more ticks than ever in Connecticut and they’re more likely to carry potentially serious illnesses than ever before.
Two emerging tick species, the lone star tick and the longhorned tick, were identified in two new counties over the course of 2024, showing they’ve spread further and faster than expected or hoped. Residents of Fairfield, New London, Middlesex and New Haven counties may see these specimens in the wild more, which is concerning as they were not established in New Haven or Middlesex counties in 2019.
There’s some major concern over Lone Star ticks, as they’re connected with Alpha-gal syndrome, a condition that creates a food allergy to red meat inside the body. Mayo Clinic says the condition, which impacts the immune system, can cause mild or severe allergic reactions to beef, pork or lamb, as well as dairy products and other animal-borne items. Mayo Clinic said increased reports of the syndrome have been found farther north and west from its centralized diagnosis area of south, east and central United States, correlating with the CAES’s report.
Just as important – and notable – is that Connecticut ticks are increasingly carrying other illnesses. In the CAES study, more than half of adult ticks tested were carrying Lyme disease, with nearly one quarter of tick nymphs showing similar behavior. Five other potentially serious illnesses, including babesiosis, anaplasmosis, hard tick relapsing fever and Powassan encephalitis, were also found in these ticks. While they had lower appearance rates, babesiosis, a parasite that can cause fever and jaundice, was found in more than 10% of tested ticks.
The CAES collected more than 4,000 ticks during the survey, which means more than 2,000 carried Lyme disease and about one in six carried babesiosis.
Even this early in the spring, ticks are already being reported in the wilderness, something to note especially for people with pre-existing conditions that could make a diagnosis worse. The CAES reminded people to avoid bushy or wooded areas and stay on regular trails, conduct regular checks for ticks after coming inside, and wear long sleeves, pants and light-colored clothing when outdoors. Tucking pant legs into socks when hiking and using insect repellants is also recommended as additional safety measures.
In the event of a tick bite, use tweezers to slowly pill the insect off your skin, avoiding fast movements and working to remove it shortly after it bites and latches on.
