Upstate Medical University tick experts are finding new kinds of ticks migrating to parts of upstate New York.
Deer ticks continue to be the most common kind of ticks you’ll find across the state. But climate change and human behavior are responsible for some new tick varieties turning up in Dr. Saravanan Thangamani’s tick lab in Syracuse.
"We are starting to see more dog ticks and lone star ticks along with the deer ticks," Thangamani said.
And of course, with those ticks come a whole new host of tick-borne diseases, like ehrlichiosis, Heartland Virus disease, and bourbon virus disease. There’s also a meat allergy that is caused by dog ticks. Thangamani said while climate change is widening the geographic range of these ticks, it’s human behavior that’s the biggest reason these insects are turning up at his lab. He said it starts when people go on vacation in areas where these other ticks are more prevalent.
"They take their pets with them and then they camp and then when they come home they do the tick check, either they do it or they don't do it so if they don't do it they bring a tick from let's say Catskills to Syracuse," Thangamani said.
Thangamani suggests checking animals for ticks before leaving a vacation spot in order to stop the insects from hitchhiking a ride back home.
