Tiny Bites, Big Problems: Tick Season Returns To Minnesota

MINNESOTA — Tick season is starting in Minnesota, and along with it the potential for serious and debilitating tick-borne illnesses.

Some illnesses spread through tick bites have been known threats in Minnesota for some time. Others, such as Alpha-gal syndrome, have only recently emerged.

Here’s what Minnesota residents need to know before they head outdoors:

Does Meat Suddenly Make You Sick?

Alpha-gal syndrome, or AGS, is a tick-borne red meat allergy that is spread by the aggressive lone star tick — the most likely of any tick to bite. The tick’s range includes Minnesota, and stretches from Texas to Minnesota and points east.

AGS is unlike other food allergies in that symptoms — which range from itching and nausea to trouble breathing to life-threatening anaphylaxis — are often delayed by several hours after consumption. That can make it difficult to identify the food that triggered the reactions.

The CDC says the meat allergy is so new that health care providers don’t always recognize it and can misdiagnose AGS. In a recent nationwide survey. 42 percent of health care providers told the CDC they’d never heard of AGS, and another 35 percent weren’t confident in their ability to diagnose or treat AGS patients.

The CDC warned last year of the rapid spread of lone star ticks and that the true number of people whose lives have been affected by it is close to 450,000, around four times the number estimated in an initial study. That would make it the 10th most common food allergy in the country.

Some scientists say a warming climate more hospitable to lone star ticks may be one reason for their spread, while others suggest the ticks are reestablishing themselves in areas where they were once common before their forest habitat was cleared for development.

Also, lone star ticks travel with a preferred host, deer, whose populations have rebounded in areas where forests have been reestablished.

Deer Ticks Spread Multiple Illnesses

Black-legged ticks, also called deer ticks, are the most common U.S. stick and are found widely across the country, including in Minnesota. People who are bitten by them are susceptible to a number of illnesses, including Lyme disease, where cases have been concentrated in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Upper Midwest and Pacific Coast areas

It may take up to a month for symptoms to develop. They include a rash, fever, headache, fatigue, and joint pain, and may progress to arthritis and heart and neurological problems.

Babesiosis, a parasitic disease spread through the bite of infected black-legged ticks, infects red blood cells, causing flu-like symptoms and potentially severe or fatal illness, especially in those with weakened immune systems.

Other illnesses spread by these ticks include anaplasmosis, which can cause a range of symptoms, including fever, headache and muscle pain; and Powassan virus, which can cause fever, headache, vomiting, and weakness.

Brown dog ticks are also found in every U.S. state. The primary host for this tick in each of its life stages is a dog, but the tick may also bite humans and other mammals. It can transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever in the southwestern U.S., according to the

How To Protect Yourself

Because symptoms of tick-borne illnesses can lag, the best thing to do is protect yourself against ticks when you’re in places they’re likely to be found — grassy, brushy and wooded areas, or even your backyard. Some tips from the CDC:

• Wear socks and boots, and tuck your pants into your boots. Cover your hair as well.
• Tick-specific insect repellents can help, too. Treat clothing and gear, such as boots, pants, socks and tents with products containing 0.5 percent permethrin.
• Talk to your veterinarian about tick treatments for cats and dogs.
• Check yourself for ticks daily, especially under the arms, in and around the ears, inside the belly button, behind the knees, between the legs, around the waist, and on the hairline and scalp.
• Shower soon after being outdoors.

If you do find a tick, use fine-tipped tweezers to grasp the tick as close to the skin’s surface as possible. The key is to remove the tick as soon as you find it or are able to remove it. Using nail polish, petroleum jelly or heat to make the tick detach from the skin won’t work.

Pull upward with steady, even pressure. Don’t twist or jerk the tick, as this can cause its mouth-parts to break off and remain in the skin. If you are unable to remove the mouth parts easily, leave them alone and let the skin heal.

After removing the tick, thoroughly clean the bite area and your hands with rubbing alcohol, an iodine scrub, or soap and water.