Ticks hold onto vegetation waiting for a host to pass by - a behavior known as questing.
Blacklegged tick nymphs are the size of a poppy seed.
Ticks, like this lone star tick, engorged with blood are more difficult to identify.
Tick Talk
Ticks and tick-borne diseases have become a significant public health issue in New York, with numerous tick species and diseases currently present and spreading within the state and region.More ticks in more places also increases your risk of tick encounters and the disease-causing pathogens they inject during their blood meal.
Tick-borne diseases in New York include:
- Lyme disease
- Anaplasmosis
- Babesiosis
- Borrelia miyamotoi
- Powassan virus
- Ehrlichiosis
- Tularemia
- Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
Different species of ticks can transmit different pathogens, so identifying the tick species is important. After identification, the next question is whether the tick should be tested. We follow the CDC recommendation of not having the tick tested for diagnostic purposes. The reasons include:
- Positive results showing that the tick contains a disease-causing organism do not necessarily mean that you have been infected.
- Negative results can lead to false assurance. You may have been unknowingly bitten by a different tick that was infected.
- If you have been infected, you will probably develop symptoms before results of the tick test are available. If you do become ill, you should not wait for tick testing results before beginning appropriate treatment.
There IS a community-science benefit to having a tick tested. The Thangamani Lab in the SUNY Upstate Medical University is investigating the geographic expansion of ticks and tick-borne diseases in New York. When funding allows, they are conducting free tick testing for research purposes.
Tick saliva can also impact people, including alpha-gal allergy caused by lone star tick bites and tick paralysis, mostly attributed to female American dog ticks.
But, overall, prevention is best. Avoiding tick-borne diseases and impacts means avoiding a tick bite. Use the resources and links on the left and right sidebars of this webpage for the resources you will need to avoid tick bites, manage ticks in the landscape, what to do if you are bitten, and protect yourself from tick bites and tick-borne diseases.
Content compiled by members of the Cornell University Horticulture Program Work Team, 2021.
Last updated July 23, 2024
Avoiding Tick Bites
Don’t Get Ticked NY is a NYS IPM Program campaign to reduce human exposure to ticks and tick-borne diseases and promoting IPM, especially monitoring, personal protection, and best management practices.
Managing Ticks
Ticks of New York
Tick-borne Diseases
The Tick App
The Tick App is a free app for your smartphone. The app contains information on ticks and asks you to log your daily activities to help researchers. You can even send pictures of your ticks for identification.
The app allows people living in high-risk areas for Lyme disease to participate in a regional tick exposure and human behavior study.
DOWNLOAD a PDF that describes how to use The Tick App.