this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2025
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Unusually aggressive lone star ticks, common in the south-east, are spreading to areas previously too cold for them

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[–] leadore@lemmy.world 14 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

The syndrome is not caused by a pathogen but spurs an allergy to a sugar molecule found in mammals and an array of other things, from toothpaste to medical equipment.

Lone star ticks are aggressive and can speedily follow a human target if they detect them. “They will hunt you, they are like a cross between a lentil and a velociraptor,” said Sharon Pitcairn Forsyth, a conservationist who lives in the Washington DC area.

A particular horror is the prospect of brushing up against vegetation containing a massed ball of juvenile lone star ticks, know as a “tick bomb”, that can deliver thousands of tick bites. “They are so tiny you can’t see them but you have to take it seriously or you’ll never get them off you,” said Forsyth, who now carries around a lint roller to remove such clusters.

😱

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

"to areas previously too cold", huh... i wonder what happened...

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

The planet keeps {Chinese hoax}'ing.

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 12 points 10 months ago

Unusually Aggressive Lone Star Tick was my user name in the 2000s!

[–] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago (2 children)
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[–] Tinks@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago

Every time I go hiking with my dog I pull one of these little bastards off his fur. I cover him in permethrin, as well as every inch of my clothing, shoes and hat, so I'm not SUPER stressed about it, but it's still annoying. A couple days ago I found one in his tail floof (he's a golden so it's a giant poof.) The tick was near dead already by the time I got it untangled from his fur thanks to the permethrin though. Usually I spot the ticks on him either because they're on his head (where they're easy to spot immediately), or because they got tangled in his fur and couldn't jump off. I've never once seen one bite him thankfully.

It's wild to me because I have only seen other kinds of ticks twice so far this season, but otherwise it's all lone star ticks, which are not supposed to be the most common where I am. They're definitely more prominent this year though. Of all the tick diseases, alpha-gal terrifies me the most, so I'm not thrilled by this increase in lone stars.

[–] Machinist@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago

You can get concentrated permetherin, mix with water and apply with spray bottle to cotton clothes/socks. It bonds to the fiber and keeps the ticks off. Lasts several washes, longer if you don't dry clothes with heat.

Much cheaper to buy the concentrate instead of the premix.

Spray outside, allow clothes to dry outside. Stuff is pretty much harmless to humans. When still wet or in concentrate, it is absolutely deadly to cats. After it has bonded to your clothes, it won't hurt the cats. Doesn't work if you apply it to your skin, the skin oils or something deactivate it.

Haven't had a tick in years since I started using it.

[–] ApollosArrow@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

And so their task force begins…

[–] khaleer@sopuli.xyz 9 points 10 months ago

I can't, nature got so enough of burgers, that it invented self injecting vacciness for their health issues!

[–] EldenLord@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)
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[–] ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 8 points 10 months ago

Payback for turning the frogs gay

[–] mastod0n@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

That's like nuking Texas.

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