Two Kinds of Ticks, All Kinds of Trouble

Two bad ticks in PA: black-legged tick and lone star tick (photos from Wikimedia) 7 July 2026 At last the heat has broken and we’re able to enjoy the outdoors again, but don’t get too cocky. Tick bites are way up this year and they are TROUBLE. For most of the country, weekly emergency visits for tick bites are at the highest rates for this time of year since 2017, according to the CDC. — Allegheny Front: Tick bites up in U.S., Pennsylvania, this spring, prompting renewed emphasis on prevention This means that even on vacation you’ve gotta watch out for ticks. The bites of two species can make you very sick: black-legged ticks and lone star ticks. This diagram shows their relative size and shape, shown with the familiar dog tick for comparison. Comparing three species: black-legged, lone star and dog ticks (diagram from CDC via Wikimedia) Blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) Black-legged (or “deer”) ticks are at the top of the danger list. They are exceptionally plentiful and they…