“Ticks can and will be found almost everywhere”

Residents of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, were put on alert after a child became the state's first case of a tick-borne virus in 2024.

What happens?

According to the Allegheny County website, a child was diagnosed with Powassan virus in August, the first human case of the disease in the county.

The child developed fever and other related symptoms and was hospitalized. He has since been discharged and is recovering at home.

Powassan virus disease is a tick-borne disease that can be transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected black-legged tick. These parasitic arachnids can also transmit Lyme disease and transmit the Powassan virus after feeding on an infected rodent.

“Ticks can and are found almost anywhere,” Kristen Mertz, a medical epidemiologist with ACHD, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Blacklegged tick nymphs (active mainly in May, June and July) prefer leaf litter, while adults (active September through April) prefer grasses at forest edges and roadsides.”

Why is this case of Powassan virus disease concerning?

As the Post-Gazette noted, while Powassan virus disease is not as common as Lyme disease, cases are increasing. This is attributed to reforestation patterns and milder winters that allow tick populations to increase.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), temperature changes resulting from human-caused global warming are expanding the range of ticks. Deer ticks, for example, thrive in temperatures with at least 85% humidity.

When sustained higher temperatures provide optimal survival conditions for ticks, they stay longer in forest ecosystems, thereby extending the potential time for humans to become infected with tick-borne diseases.

“Unlike other vector-borne diseases, tick-borne disease patterns are generally less affected by short-term weather changes (weeks to months) than by longer-term climate changes,” the EPA noted.

What can be done against tick-borne diseases?

To minimize the risk of a tick bite, it is important to reduce the risk of potential exposure. For example, wearing clothing that covers your arms and legs when walking in grassy areas or among leaves will give ticks less of a chance of biting your skin.

The Post-Gazette recommends removing attached ticks with fine tweezers and seeking medical attention if you become ill after a bite. Symptoms of Powassan virus disease can develop a week to a month after contact, and a nonspecific rash is an indication of possible infection.

However, since ticks thrive in warmer temperatures, it's also important to take steps to slow global warming. It may seem like a strange prevention method, but using energy from renewable sources, eliminating meat from your diet, and even recycling more can help reduce earth-warming pollution and thus cool the planet, limiting the ideal weather conditions for ticks.

Subscribe to our free newsletter for good news And useful tipsand don't miss this cool list of simple ways you can help yourself and the planet at the same time.