Ticking time bomb: Some farmers report as many as 70 tick encounters over a 6-month period

(Press-News.org) Finding one tick on your body is scary enough – tick-borne diseases are serious – but what if you found more than 10 on yourself in just one month? That’s the plight of some farmers as the threat of ticks and tick-borne diseases grows, according to new research featuring experts at Binghamton University, State University of New York. 

New research led by Mandy Roome, associate director of the Tick-borne Disease Center at Binghamton University, State University of New York, reveals that farmers and outdoor workers in the Northeast are facing an escalating threat of tick-borne diseases, which could be devastating to their livelihoods.

Ticks are surging and spreading throughout the United States, causing alarm for all who fall within their path, especially those in the Northeast. Farmers, who spend a substantial amount of time outdoors, in habitats ideal for ticks, face an even greater threat.

“Not much has been done in the Northeast United States with outdoor workers and tick-borne diseases since the early 90s,” said Roome. “Ticks and tick-borne diseases were a very different risk in the early 90s than they are now. We wanted to figure out how we can help some of our most vulnerable workers.”

Roome and her team connected with 53 individuals, representing a total of 46 farms in Southern Vermont, an area chosen for its high incidence rates of Lyme disease, high level of agricultural activity and abundance of tick habitats. The questionnaire collected data on tick bites, health history, prevention practices, farm activities and more.

“As you would imagine, tick encounters are generally higher than what we see for ourselves,” said Roome. “Some of them, especially if they're doing something like fence repair in the spring, they're inundated with ticks, unfortunately. So we wanted to try and identify something quick and easy for them. And we talked about different farm activities: mowing, plowing the fields, mowing the lawn around the farmhouse.”

The survey revealed some surprising results:

12% of respondents reported ever being diagnosed with a tick-borne disease Over the previous 6 months, participants reported an average of three tick encounters Some workers reported as many as 70 encounters There was a marginal association between grazing livestock and increased tick sightings “Anyone who's had a tick-borne disease before, or who knows someone who has – whether it was a fellow farmer, or someone in their family – they kind of notice how debilitating it can be,” said Roome. “They have a lot of priorities on a farm. They've got a lot to deal with to run a farm like that, but that's kind of something that's always in the back of their minds.”

One farmer in the study had contracted Lyme carditis, a serious bacterial infection of the heart, for which he eventually needed to have open-heart surgery. 

“These are the things that we would like to prevent,” said Roome. “For anybody that's detrimental. But especially for a farmer, not being able to do that work can have massive consequences on the whole farm.”

The research is part of a larger project aimed at testing an environmental intervention.  Roome and her team are trialing tick control tubes that will help kill ticks on mice, which are the number-one reservoir for transmitting pathogens to humans. 

“We're trying to identify something effective and easy for farmers to do. Any outdoor worker, you’re in tick habitat. So ‘avoid tick habitats’ is really not the solution for them,” said Roome. 

The paper, “Ticking Time Bomb: The Escalating Threat of Tick-Borne Diseases in Rural Farming Communities,” was published in the Journal of Agromedicine.

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