Question about ticks?

Question

I grew up in southern Michigan. I spent my entire years as a kid, in the woods around my house. I used to build tree forts and roll on the ground in these woods and NEVER got a tick on me. I now live in northern Delaware and get at least one tick on me every time I go into the woods (including woods in PA and NJ). Same with my family members and my pets. My dog just tested positive for Lyme disease. I even get them in my back yard when mowing the lawn (one tree, no woods). Between living in Michigan and Delaware, I spent 8 years in Japan with the Military. Here is my question... Did the tick population in the US grow significantly while I was in Japan or does Delaware (PA and NJ) just have a way bigger tick problem than Michigan?

Answer 1

Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey have much greater problem with ticks (and Lyme disease) than Michigan.
Map showing risk:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/images/riskmap_ld.gif

In 2005, Delaware had 646 reported cases of Lyme disease. Michigan only had 62. Delaware had 10 times the number of cases Michigan had.

According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, Michigan has a population of 10,120,860 and Delaware has a population of 843,524. Michigan has 12 times the number of people than Delaware has.

So, you can figure you are something like 120 times more likely to get Lyme disease in Delaware than you are in Michigan.

More maps...
1999 Lyme disease incidence map:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/images/ld_dotden_99.gif
2003 Lyme disease incidence map:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/images/LDIncidenceByCnty2003Map.jpg
2004 Lyme disease incidence map:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/images/LDIncidenceByCntyMap_.gif

Answer 2

I am not an expert in entomology, by any means. But I know that a particular type of animal, including insects, can in fact be more prevalent in one area than another, and that this can change around. There are several species of ticks, also, and the prevalent type of tick in Michigan might be different enough that it avoids humans. Also, I understand that the deer population in the Northeast has exploded and that they are now something of a pest there, and so there would be a lot more deer ticks and they would be closer to more humans in the Northeast than in Michigan....

Answer 3

I live in mid-Ohio and have always had ticks. (Was out of the state for a number of years--but as a child growing up--to an old woman--and there have been ticks where I have lived. They do seem a little worse now--don't know the answer.

Answer 4

I think it may be the fact that our bodies do change over time. It's like our tastes... some people will absolutely love something as a child then gradually as they get older begin to dislike it (or the other way around... absolutely hating something then loving it as they get older).

When I was younger I never was bothered by horseflies and mosquitos. Now that I'm older they bother me terribly, even making large itching welts that I never got when I was younger.

It could also have (in a small way) how long one lives in the same locale. If you stay in one place all the time your body grows accustomed to the "environment" (bugs, pollen, weather, and the like). If you move around a lot (like we did when I was in my teens) your body doesn't get that chance to adapt, so the things around you will bother you more than usual.