As the warm weather brings more people outdoors, it also signals the start of tick season.

Our Christy Dutton talks to an entomologist about tick borne illnesses caused by the most common ticks seen in Kentucky, and how to protect yourself.

That is in tonight's medical news.

Doctor Jonathan Larson joins US entomologist with University of Kentucky.

Okay, doctor Larson, this is Kentucky's prime tick territory.

What ticks are we seeing right now?

Right now, we can get a hodgepodge of just about all the ones that we worry about on people.

That would include the Lone Star tick, the American dog tick, and the black like a deer tick.

Okay.

And those are responsible for different health impacts sometimes in humans.

What is related to what health impacts?

So when we talk about six, they are the number one pathogen vector in arthropod here in the state of Kentucky.

We often joke that we could be called Kentucky because of all the ticks and tick borne illnesses that we have.

But black like a deer tick, they're responsible for the distribution of Lyme disease.

And then we also have American dog tick, which is most associated with Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

And then the lone star tick is most commonly associated with alpha gal syndrome, sometimes referred to as the red meat allergy.

Right.

And I've been hearing a whole bunch about that lately.

Why are we hearing more about it?

Kentucky is one of the top states for Alpha gal.

Unfortunately, we're kind of one of the battleground states US, Tennessee, Missouri, some other nearby states.

We are states that have a lot of Lone Star ticks.

And as a result, more people are being exposed to the sugar molecule that is responsible for alpha gal syndrome.

And we're seeing rising numbers of these people that are suffering from that allergy.

Oh, wow.

So is the Lone Star tick the most common tick in Kentucky?

It is the number one King Kong tick in the entire state.

It displaced the American dog tick, which used to hold the title back about 30 or 40 years ago.

But since it's started to infiltrate more of the state and become more common, it is absolutely the number one tick that we capture in our tick drags and that we receive via extension submissions.

So when is tick season?

Are we in tick season now?

Does it ever end?

Why are you seeing it just lasts on and on forever.

Unfortunately, it doesn't really end in Kentucky.

There are some times where it kind of goes into a lull in the winter, but the black like a deer tick is active on any day above freezing.

So any of those warm days that we get in winter, those ticks are active and we could encounter them.

If you're going out into the woods.

I would say the prime tick season in the Commonwealth.

It's kind of that May and June timeframe.

You could extend it into April as well.

But that's when these species are starting to get more active.

They're either reproducing or the adults are becoming active after the winter.

And we're starting to see, new ones be born for the new year.

Okay.

Is there any, sort of new tick that we need to be concerned about or an invasive species?

There is an invasive species of tick.

Of note, it's called the Asian longhorned tick.

And it is a bigger deal for cattle producers as well as people who like wildlife.

It's not been as big of a deal for people, although it has been found on a human in Kentucky before.

It can get on to wild and domesticated animals.

And if it's not caught in time, unfortunately, almost all of the ticks that we've seen from the species in the US have been just females, which means they're reproducing asexually and you can end up with very heavy tick loads on animals and areas of infestation.

And there can be, really problematic symptoms after that where the the animal is losing so much blood, it gets sicker and sicker because of the ticks.

Oh, wow.

Okay, so the Asian longhorned tick.

Okay.

With the little bit of time that we have left.

What do people need to know to protect themselves from tick bites?

Right now would be a good time to think about wearing longer pants.

Still, even though it's starting to get warmer, you can tuck your pants down into your socks or into your boots, and that can cut off one of the easy access points that ticks have.

It's just crawling up your pant leg or up your leg to get to the the other bits that they want to bite.

You can also wear skin based repellents such as Deet or oil of lemon eucalyptus.

There's also picaridin and I R3535.

All of those can provide some protection when you apply it to your skin, you may have to reapply, particularly if you sweat a lot or you're getting wet outdoors.

If you're going to be outside for a long time, I would consider treating your clothing with permethrin.

That is not for your skin.

It is an insecticide, but once it dries on your clothes, it's safe to wear those clothes again.

And when the ticks crawl onto it will kill them.

Shake out your pants at the end of your camping trip and doesn't get ticks will fall off.

That feels very satisfying, and you won't have been bitten by those little sneaky, bloodsucking ninjas.