WAUSAU, Wis. (WXCO) – Experts say the tiny blood sucking parasites can still give you Lyme disease without developing the bullseye rash.

Ticks are tiny, blood-sucking parasites that can pose a significant threat to human and animal health and the early spring means the arachnids are ready to catch a ride on their next human or animal.

Ashley Johnson is a Nurse Practitioner at the Aspirus Tick-Borne Illness Center in Woodruff, Wisconsin; provides advanced care to diagnose, control and treat tick-borne illnesses. She says there are several types of ticks in our state.

“The first one is the wood tick. Those are the larger ticks,” said Johnson. “The second one is the deer tick, which is the one that is most known for transmitting Lyme disease. And then we do have a third tick that is pretty rare, but that one is called the lone star tick. And it is starting to migrate north, but it is mainly found in the Southern States.”

Aspirus saw a 4% rise in Lyme disease patients throughout the Aspirus system from 2022 to 2023.

In order to prevent tick bites, you want to prevent them from getting onto your skin. Some tips include:

• Tuck your pants into your socks
• Wear tall boots if you’re going out into the woods
• Use bug sprays with at least a 30 percent Deet concentration
• Perform daily tick checks anytime you’re done spending time outside
• Throw your clothes in the dryer for 20 minutes on high heat which will kill any ticks that are potentially on your clothes
• Treat your pets, especially dogs that sleep in the beds, as they’re a high risk for bringing ticks into the home 

“So, where you want to check for ticks is going to be any place that is dark, warm and cozy, so your armpits, your belt line, the groin, the hairline, behind the ears. And you want to do it immediately after you come in from any activity that is considered high risk,” Johnson added. “So anytime you’re in the tall grass, the woods, the fields, if you’re gardening, those are all considered high risk activities for contracting a tick bite.”

Removing a tick can be challenging and there are several options to extract them. Tweezers are effective and it’s important that you don’t squeeze the body of the tick. Place the tweezers at the head of the tick perpendicular to its body and pull straight up until it releases from the skin. Tick removal tools like the tick twister and the tick key can help to remove a tick without squeezing the body or irritating the tick.

Signs and symptoms of Lyme disease would include fever, joint pain, headaches, muscle pain, brain fog, and then also the EM (erythema multiforme) rash or a bullseye rash. “The thing to keep in mind is that you can still have Lyme disease and not develop the bullseye rash,” said Johnson. “So that is a common misconception is that you have to have the bullseye rash in order to have Lyme disease.”

May is National Lyme Disease Awareness Month and aims to spread awareness of how to prevent Lyme and tick-borne diseases. Anyone looking for more information on tick-borne illness care or services to treat tick-borne illnesses can visit the Aspirus website.