- New research found that black-legged ticks are plentiful in the coastal brush, grasses, and sand around the beaches in California.
- Infectious disease doctors recommend taking preventive steps at the beach: Avoid grasses and brush where ticks live, scan your body for ticks, and wear repellant.
- If you find a tick on yourself, don’t panic. Remove the tick and save it for testing in case you develop symptoms.
Turns out the woodlands aren’t the only places ticks love to hide out. The tiny insects known for carrying the bacterium that causes Lyme disease can be spotted at beaches, too.
New research found that black-legged ticks are plentiful in the coastal brush, grasses, and sand around the beaches in California.
The findings, which recently published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, also found that about 4 percent of ticks in coastal areas tested positive for the bacterium that causes Lyme disease (Borrelia burgdorferi).
The study is the first to evaluate the bacterium carried by ticks in coastal areas.
In California, black-legged ticks have been thought to predominantly live in the woodlands, but researchers set out to see where else ticks might be living in the state.
Until now, there wasn’t much research on how prevalent ticks are in coastal areas. There has been plenty of anecdotal evidence of people being bit near the beach.
The researchers started searching in coastal areas — in the brush, sand, and seaside grasses.
The researchers conducted “tick drags” in which they dragged pieces of cloth over foliage. Ticks sit on grass and hook onto people or animals as they pass by, as they would with a piece of cloth during a tick drag.
The researchers were surprised to discover that so many ticks reside in the coastal bluffs, since gray squirrels, whose habitats are not near beaches, are the main vectors of Borrelia burgdorferi in California.
About 4 percent of the ticks identified in the coastal regions carried the bacterium that causes Lyme.
They suspect voles or rabbits may be carrying the bacterium near the coast.
Approximately 480,000 Americans are diagnosed with Lyme disease each year, according to the
Most tick bites do not lead to disease, and the risk of picking up a tick-borne illness varies from place to place.
“Even if it has bitten, though, most tick bites do not end up spreading any disease at all,” and the overall risk of contracting Lyme disease is very low, said Dr. Dean Jacobs, a board certified pediatrician at MemorialCare Medical Group in Santa Ana, California, and MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center.
Tick bites are more common in the summer months when people spend more time outdoors.
“Depending on the area, as low as 1 percent and high as 40 percent of ticks can be infected with a tick-borne pathogen,” said Linda Giampa, the executive director of the Bay Area Lyme Foundation.
The initial symptom of Lyme disease is a rash that appears a week to 2 weeks after the bite, says Dr. Andres Romero, an infectious disease specialist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California.
Common symptoms include fatigue, poor appetite, joint aches, and headaches. Some people may develop a fever or eye irritation.
“Other more severe symptoms tend to occur several weeks or even months later if the conditions goes unrecognized. These include neurological symptoms like facial paralysis, meningitis, and heart blockage (impairment of the electrical conduction of the heart),” said Romero.
Spray your shoes and clothes with permethrin insect and tick repellent before heading to the beach.
DEET can also help repel ticks, according to Jacobs.
“Higher concentrations of DEET prevent for longer periods of time, but you should not use above 30 percent,” Jacobs said.
Stay on the sand, as ticks tend to congregate in the dunes, chaparral, and beach grasses.
When you get home, shower immediately and put all of your clothes and towels in a hot dryer for 20 minutes.
Check the areas of your body where ticks like to hide out: under the arms, around the ears, the belly button, behind the knees, between the legs and waist, and in the hair.
Search again a couple of days later, as the ticks will be larger and easier to spot.
“If you find a tick on you, don’t panic,” said Giampa.
When you remove the tick, you want to remove its entire body in a way that doesn’t force more bacteria into your body.
“We recommend using pointy nose tweezers placed between the skin and the tick’s mouth, and gently pulling the tick straight up and away from your skin,” Giampa said.
In most cases, the tick must be attached for
The Bay Area Lyme Foundation recommends carefully removing the tick and saving it in a plastic bag. In the event you develop symptoms, the tick can be tested for disease.
Lyme disease can be treated with antibiotics, doxycycline being the most common treatment.
“The key of treatment is early recognition of the infection so antibiotics are started early,” before late complications develop, Romero said.
New research found that black-legged ticks are plentiful in the coastal brush, grasses, and sand around the beaches in California.
Infectious disease doctors recommend taking preventive steps at the beach: Avoid grasses and brush where ticks live, scan your body for ticks, and wear repellant. If you find a tick on yourself, don’t panic. Remove the tick and save it for testing in case you develop symptoms.