The Berrien County Health Department is reminding everyone of things they can do to protect themselves from ticks this summer.
We’ve seen a lot of ticks in the past few weeks, although health department epidemiologist Sara Palmer tells us they can’t say for sure if there’s been a larger tick population this year. She says the health department picks up samples of ticks twice each week at four locations around the county.
“They will take a rope attached to a tick flag, we call it, and it’s basically a big piece of kind of white corduroy material, and they will drag it for a certain distance in areas where we would expect to find ticks,” Palmer said.
The four locations are Grand Mere State Park, Warren Dunes State Park, Madeline Bertrand County Park, and Love Creek County Park. Palmer says Berrien County has black legged ticks, dog ticks, and Lone Star ticks, all of which can spread disease. The most common concern is Lyme disease.
“With that, you’re going to see things like fever, headache, fatigue, skin rash. You can get that muscle and joint pain. Some people will get better. Some people will need to be treated, and in some cases, if it’s not treated, it can become severe.”
Another concern is Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which Palmer says is pretty similar to Lyme disease.
Palmer recommends sticking to groomed trails and using bug spray with DEET when out hiking. Also be sure to thoroughly check yourself for ticks after getting home and remember to take a shower within two hours.
Palmer says not all ticks carry disease and it takes a while for them to transmit a disease once getting on you. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services will identify ticks if you send them a picture of one you’ve caught. You can do so right here.
