(WBEN) - The summer months have arrived in Western New York, which means many across the region will be looking to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors and all that Mother Nature has to offer.
However, there continues to be growing concerns over tick populations throughout the region, and some are warning residents to take notice and be prepared in case they find themselves or their pets with a tick problem.
"We are Buffalonians, we spend a lot of the months indoors, and we tend to go outside as soon as the weather clears up. And I think people need to be aware of it," said Rebecca Roll, chair and founder of Lyme WNY. "I always tell people, enjoy the outdoors, but do it smartly. Do it using your precautions, such as bug sprays, doing your tick checks, avoiding areas where you might know are highly populated, which now is really anywhere."
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In Niagara County, Director of the Environmental Health Division, Paul Dicky warns residents that Lyme Disease is present in Niagara County, which ticks are a main culprit of spreading.
"We have done periodic collection and sampling of ticks over the past few years, and we have confirmed that the bacteria that causes Lyme Disease and is transported by ticks is present," said Dicky. "Every year that we do get a chance to look, it seems the rates are going up year-over-year. It is a concern, and people should be aware of how they can protect themselves against ticks and Lyme Disease."
Meanwhile, Town of Amherst Supervisor Brian Kulpa says concerns over ticks in the region is always a concern this time of year.
"Certainly it's a little elevated this year," said Kulpa. "We found a couple of fields, some of our youth sports facilities, had some tick issues earlier in the season, which required us to go through and treat. We've since gone through and treated, again, a number of our facilities, but there's countless places where kids interact with nature in Amherst, and all over Western New York. The reality is the tick population seems to be up, so everybody's got to use a lot of caution."
While there are some wooded areas across Amherst where ticks can be a problem for residents who are not careful, Roll says ticks being just a problem in wooded areas has become a big misconception.
"We always hear, 'Oh, well, my backyard is wooded,' or, 'I was camping,' or, 'I was doing this or that in this wooded area or this high grass area.' Honestly, there's a huge problem just in suburban backyards, soccer complexes, golf courses, you name it," she said. "Anywhere that you're really spending outdoors right now, I would say ticks don't know borders. They don't know to all the sudden stop because they've hit a suburban neighborhood. It's an everywhere problem right now. Be smart about it, and realize to be diligent to protect yourself and your family and your pets."
During his tenure as Amherst Town Supervisor, Kulpa feels this year is already the worst to date, when it comes to noticing an increase in the tick population.
"As I remember, a couple of years ago, we had bad mosquito issues. It's been dry, so maybe not as many of those this year so far, but it seems like if it's not one thing, it's the other," Kulpa said. "So just remember everybody, if you're out, if you can, wear long pants. Obviously on hot days, not everybody's gonna do that, so use protective measures. We're telling everybody that it's OK to use Off and repellents, just make sure you're washing those off when you're done. But it's something we should all be aware of, especially as parents."
As some municipalities and others may notice more discussions about tick problems, Roll feels the tick population has always been pretty bad. It is only now that people are starting to realize it, and there's been more of a public outreach for it.
"My husband's had Lyme Disease now for 10 years, and I think back then, nobody was really talking about it," Roll said. "I think I always heard that buzzword, but I didn't really know what it meant. I think now, it's just becoming more recognized. I think it's always been a problem. I think the ticks have always been a problem, but I think, thankfully, education and awareness is surrounding it a bit more now."
An important part of the process for people like Dicky is identifying what kind of ticks there are in the region, usually by using a technique called "dragging" or "flagging". Then they use a microscope to determine what kind of ticks are prevalent, and what diseases and infections they can carry.
"In Niagara County, it's very common that you see a Deer Tick, also called the Black-Legged Tick. That's the tick that will typically carry Lyme Disease," Dicky said. "We also have a lot of American Dog Ticks, which don't carry the Lyme Disease. They're also very prevalent. Which one might attach to your dog more than the other, they both could - I'm not sure if the name denotes that it's more prevalent on a dog or not - but the American Dog Tick can carry Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, although that's very rare in Western New York and Niagara County. The main disease that we are concerned about is Lyme Disease."
So what happens if you come across a tick on yourself or your pet after time spent outdoors? Roll says it's important to be proactive and prompt when it comes to removing a tick.
"First of all, you need to remove it safely. There's guidelines through the CDC on ways that you can remove it properly. Don't ever use anything else besides some sort of fine-pointed tweezers or tick removal tool," she said. "We hear a lot of times people will say they'll use essential oils or burnage or Vaseline. Don't ever use anything besides those tools. What happens is you actually agitate the tick, and what it then does is regurgitates more bacteria into your body. If you visit our website or even our Facebook page, we have some recommendations of what to do next."
The rule of thumb is if a tick is attached to you or your pet for less than 24 hours, more likely than not, it probably will not transfer any diseases it might have.
Dicky also says it's important to be able to recognize what ticks look like, and how they would be on you.
"Whenever you wear light-colored clothing, you can spot ticks a lot easier than, say, if they were on black pants or something like that," he said. "You want to be able to check your clothes and your skin frequently while you're outdoors, and using just normal insect repellents - there's different EPA-registered insect repellents that are very good at deterring ticks from you. You can spray them on your skin, on your clothes. But avoiding ticks, staying on the center of trails rather than crashing up against the brush all the time, or just staying on the stone paths as you walk. Even when you get home, consider bathing or showering soon afterwards. You can very easily, and you're soaping yourself up, notice if there's any ticks attached to you."
Dicky points out when a tick finds itself on a human or animal, it will usually crawl and stop in a warm area of the body like the groin region, armpits, or the nape of your neck.
Roll says data and research is showing, at least, 50% of the tick population right now is carrying some sort of bacteria, such as Lyme Disease. However, there are other infections and diseases, such as Powassan that ticks can carry that can be harmful to yourself or your pets.
One preventative measures that has proven helpful to fight against ticks is using sprays to deter the insects from embedding in your skin or your pet's skin. Especially during this time of year, Roll advises to make these sprays a part of your daily routine.
"The bottles explain how to use these things properly. We use it regularly in our house, and we are outdoorsy people, we always will be. But now we know that we use these products, just like if you go outside on a sunny day or you're going to go to the beach, you're not going to go without using sunscreen, or if you get up and you brush your teeth in the morning," Roll said. "Make it part of your daily routine. Put on your bug spray and put on your proper clothing, as well."
What other measures can you take to make sure ticks are not a concern in-and-around your living space?
"Around your own property, you want to just keep your lawns mowed, and your edges trimmed. Make sure that the leaf litter and the tall grasses around your houses are removed," Dicky said. "For some reason, we notice more tick activity around stone structures and stone walls. If you sit down on a stone wall for a short amount of time, you might when you stand up, think to yourself, 'Did anything crawl on me?' and do a quick assessment. If you've got kids, look them over every now and then, and have someone check your back."
If you happen to be in a region that notices a tick problem with pets, kids or adults being bitten by ticks, Kulpa says it's important to contact your local municipality to have them take care of the problem before it gets worse.
"We do treat, and we will re-treat if we know that there's issues. But, again, there's a lot of different spaces out there, and there's some areas that we don't treat right now," he said. "If you happen to be at a baseball field next to a power easement and the power easement's got long grass, that's not an area that we treat. I think we want everybody to use precaution first, but if people do notice a tick on a child or an animal, specifically to one of our recreation areas, then we'd want that person to put a call into the town or email into the town to let us know so we can go and see if that is an actual heightened problem in that area."
There are also plenty of resources available for people to check out if they have questions or concerns when it comes to ticks in Western New York.
"In Niagara County, our website, NiagaraCounty.com/health, we have some tick resources and some tick information," Dicky said. "We also link to a very excellent site, which is the New York State Department of Health's website. They have a search box and you put in the word 'ticks' into their search box, and you get a lot of excellent information all about how to protect yourself, what are the different tick diseases, what are the recommended insecticides, and it goes on-and-on in quite some depth."
Meanwhile, Roll also has plenty of information available for people at her website, LymeWNY.com.
"If you go to our website, we have some links. Also, our social media, we try to stay up to date on the most recent research and data that's out there," she said. "We really try to be a factually-based group, not an opinion-based group. And if you're ever needing more information, there's our organization and there's lots of other organizations who are really passionate about educating the public about Lyme Disease, and how to prevent these measures from ticks, and keeping your family safe and protected."
One other piece of advice from Roll when it comes to ticks: Be your own advocate.
"I still think there's a lack of acknowledgement in the medical community that this is a problem. If you got bit by a tick, it's not a big deal, and just to kind of wait and see. Our advice is don't wait and see, just be your own advocate," she said. "There's so many people who get misdiagnosed right now, or are relying so heavily on the Lyme Disease tests, which is like lice on the Western blot - it's a really, really outdated test that's testing the antibodies. Unfortunately, the Lyme bacteria is smarter than these tests. So don't rely on test results. It really needs to be a clinical diagnosis. And if you need more help, we have meetings every second Wednesday of the month, that you can find on our website."