The USDA has confirmed a tick removed from a dog in Butler County is of the invasive Asian longhorned variety. The tick — which was first documented in Ohio in 2020 — is now confirmed in 24 counties, and likely present in more than that.
"This is a tick that can migrate on wildlife, including migratory waterfowl, and this is one that doesn't really take too much for it to establish in a county because it can reproduce by a parthenogenesis, which means the female does not need to mate with a male. She can spontaneously lay eggs," explains Ohio State University assistant professor and tick expert, Timothy McDermott, DVM.
The Butler County case
The case was reported to the USDA in September by veterinarians at Oxford Veterinary Hospital. Chantel Raghu, DVM, DACVIM, tells WVXU a dog owner from Hamilton brought their pet into the clinic after it had apparently stepped on a nest of freshly hatched longhorned ticks that then swarmed the Shih Tsu by the hundreds.
"She had spent a couple of days trying to manually pick through his hair to pull them off, and after two days, she still couldn't, so she ended up calling us and coming in on emergency so that we could get him on tick prevention," Raghu tells WVXU.
The owner didn't disclose the exact location where the dog picked up the ticks, other than to confirm it was in Butler County. Raghu says the dog has since been treated with a tick preventive, and is being monitored for possible diseases and infections.
Raghu provided WVXU and Ohio State's tick lab with documentation from the USDA confirming the identification.
About the Asian longhorned tick
According to the USDA, "longhorned ticks are light brown in color and the adult female grows to the size of a pea when it is full of blood. Males are rare. Other stages of the tick are very small, about the size of a sesame seed or even smaller."
Since female longhorned ticks can reproduce asexually, they can lay up to 2,000 eggs without mating. That means they can establish large populations very quickly.
The good news is that the Asian longhorned tick hasn't yet been documented to transmit — or vector — diseases to humans.
"It is not a tick that really prefers humans, although it will bite us," McDermott says. "So far, we have not found this a competent vector of any of the things that affect humans. But I will honestly say we don't know everything this tick can do just yet."
The bad news is, it's terrible for animals, especially livestock.
"This is a tick that really, really likes deer and really likes cattle. In fact, we have had fatalities from this tick here in Ohio, from large numbers of ticks feeding on cattle — not just calves, but full grown animals, cows and bulls," McDermott reports.
The tick also can infect animals with Theileria orientalis, which can cause anemia, jaundice, and weakness, and lead to death.
"It's not a huge deal in our part of Ohio, but it's coming, and the fact that we've detected it already means that there's so many more that are probably undetected," Raghu says, adding the clinic intends to reach out to local large animal vets "to let them know so it's on their radar because the Theileria orientalis that would be found in the tick isn't something they would normally test for."
She says pet and livestock owners should use tick preventives on their animals year-round, not just in the summer.
If you think you may have encountered longhorn ticks, you should contact your local public health department, who can then reach out to the Ohio Department of Health to get the ticks submitted to the OSU College of Veterinary Medicine for them to be identified. Ohio State operates the Buckeye Tick Test Lab
McDermott says this information helps the tick lab tailor its outreach efforts across the state. He's already been in touch with his counterpart at the Butler County Extension Office about notifying local farmers and others, he says.
Tick season is year-round
Tick experts have been saying it for a while now, but it bears repeating: tick season is year-round. While ticks may be more active from April through September, people should take precautions — both for themselves and animals — all year long, not just in the summer.
"We have tick activity every single month of the year here in Ohio. We have positive cases of Lyme disease every month of the year in Ohio," McDermott points out.
There are multiple species of tick here, but McDermott says the focus tends to be on five that have the biggest implications for humans and animals: the American dog tick; the blacklegged tick, aka the deer tick; the lonestar tick; the Gulf Coast tick; and the Asian longhorned tick.
McDermott considers deer ticks the worst of them all.
"The active period for adult deer ticks is coming up. They really don't mind the cold. Lyme disease is named for Lyme, Connecticut, and we see heightened activity, believe it or not, around Thanksgiving to Christmas outside for adult deer ticks," he says.
Along with Lyme disease, ticks in Ohio also can transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever; and alpha-gal syndrome, aka the red meat allergy. Other diseases such as anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and ehrlichiosis also are on the rise, according to the Ohio Department of Health, which adds, "though rare, diseases such as tularemia, southern tick-associated rash illness (STARI), and Powassan virus may also be carried by Ohio ticks."
The best way to avoid ticks is to be aware of your surroundings and take precautions. Always check carefully for ticks on humans and pets after being in potentially tick-heavy habitats.
If you're at a park, stick to the middle of the walking path and don't wander into the woods. Make sure your pets are up-to-date on flea and tick medications or preventives.
Wear long pants and use an insect repellent or bug spray. Light-colored clothing is recommended to make it easier to spot the annoying hitchhikers. McDermott recommends buying clothing, or treating your clothing yourself, with permethrin, an insecticide that repels ticks and other insects like mosquitos.
Be sure to wash permethrin-treated clothing separately from your other laundry, read the product's label, and it's best to keep pets — especially cats — away when spraying permethrin.
Pest control companies like those that spray for mosquitos tend to use synthetic forms of pyrethrins called pyrethroids. These kill on contact. Some also create a barrier meant to repel insects.
Ew! Get it off of me!
If you find a tick on your skin, you want to remove it as soon as possible. However, there is a right way to do so.
- Use tweezers or a pointy tick tool to grab the tick all the way down where the mouth part is embedded in the skin.
- Grab it by the head and use firm, upward pressure so you get the entire tick.
- Do not just grab and squeeze because you might not get the whole thing and McDermott warns you'll probably squeeze the tick's gut contents into your body, which could make you sicker if the tick is carrying a disease.
- Wash your hands and the bite location once removed.
- Preserve the tick in a sealed bag. McDermott says hand sanitizer is a good medium to preserve a tick.
- Monitor for symptoms of Lyme disease — including fever, circular rashes and muscle or joint pain — and other tick-borne illnesses for the next few weeks.
- Contact your physician if you have symptoms or any concerns.
- You also can submit the tick for identification at some public health organizations. There also are labs that can test the offending tick for pathogens.
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