The rapid speed at which Lyme disease cases were being reported this spring seems to have slowed, probably due to the dry and hot summer conditions, according to officials at the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

It’s a good-news, bad-news situation, because now officials say ticks will be back out in droves — so outdoors folks should expect that.

“Now is a good time for a warning that they’re out. We may be seeing more ticks this fall,” said Stephen Sears, the state epidemiologist with the CDC.

Confirmed reports of Lyme disease cases in February and March were pouring in at three times the normal rate due in large part to of the mild winter this past year, said Dr. Dora Anne Mills, director of the Maine CDC.

Sears said this spring we had a banner “crop” of ticks because of three warm seasons leading up to it: a warm fall last year, a mild winter and a very warm spring.

“Right around Easter everyone was seeing ticks left and right,” Sears said.

However, the ticks were not as active in the heat of summer. Ticks normally are most active in the spring and fall, when it’s cold and damp.

At this time last year, there were 800 reported cases of Lyme disease in Maine. Right now there are 600, Sears said, although the CDC is behind in counting cases.

Because of the hot summer, Sears thinks there will be a drop in Lyme cases in October, but in the end, still probably as many overall as last year.

Maine has seen an increase in confirmed Lyme disease cases in recent years.

“Clearly the last four to five years there was a big increase on a year-to-year basis. If you look at the last two to three years, there were 800 to 900 to 1,000 cases,” Sears said.

And fall’s cool weather stimulates tick activity. Ticks inhabit leaves, especially wet ones, so raking leaves, hunting and hiking are all activities that would invite ticks to climb up the legs of your pants.

“Adult (ticks) are out and have Lyme disease organisms. They are looking for deer, that’s the host they like. Obviously they’ll pick whoever they see. Ticks are questing for the final blood meal before winter,” Sears said.

All the precautions against picking up ticks should be followed full force now. Those careful steps include, but are not limited to, tucking pant legs into socks, wearing light-colored pants to make the ticks more visible, wearing bug spray and doing a tick check once inside.

And for everyone hoping the snow holds off — ticks are one good reason to hope for snow.

“Once we get a good snow cover, they are a lot less plentiful. They are buried in the leaves. They don’t hibernate, but they’re not active,” Sears said.

 

Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or at:

dfleming@pressherald.com

 

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