A 2024 surveillance program to identify the various tick species bumming rides and infecting creatures in Wyoming turned up a fourth one that poses potential issues for humans - the American dog tick.
Entomologist Mikenna Smith at Teton County Weed and Pest said she initiated a passive surveillance program last year asking for other Weed and Pest districts as well as the staff with the Department of Agriculture, Wyoming Game and Fish and the general public to send her ticks they found so she could start to develop data on the tiny pests in the state.
The Weed and Pest program in Teton County is the only such program in the state with an entomologist.
Smith said 404 ticks arrived by mail. And the program debut showed Wyoming’s tick species of concern to humans ticked up by one.
“So we got 47 American dog ticks from Sheridan County, one American dog tick from Campbell County, and one American dog tick from Natrona County, which is the first report of that tick ever,” she said. “So, it suggests that the tick might be moving more into Central Wyoming.”
The tick had been expected to be found in the northeast part of the state and the initial findings show it could have a wider range in Wyoming than previously thought, she said.
The American dog tick joins the Rocky Mountain wood tick, brown dog tick and a soft tick with a scientific name Ornithodoros hermsi as those able to pass diseases into humans in Wyoming through their bites.
Not Just An East Coast Issue
Smith said the important thing for Wyoming residents to understand is that ticks are in the state and the tiny creatures are no longer just an East Coast issue.
“A lot of people assume Lyme disease is the only tick-borne disease you can get, and that it’s only on the East Coast, so we're safe out here, and that's not necessarily true,” she said. “We do have ticks out here that will bite people, and they do carry things that can make us sick.”
The American dog tick is not partial to dogs. It travels with any wildlife such as deer, moose, cattle or dogs, anything moving around. The tick can transmit tularemia, Q fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tick paralysis, bovine anaplasmosis, and possibly human anaplasmosis.
The Centers for Disease Control website on the tick states that there needs to be more research to understand its role in disease transmission.
Wyoming Department of Health spokesperson Kim Deti pointed Cowboy State Daily to its website that states most people who are infected by a tick bite typically start seeking treatment in May.
Tick-borne diseases such a tularemia and Rocky Mountain spotted fever carry symptoms such as fever, headache, joint pain, a rash, nausea and diarrhea. Human anaplasmosis caused by the bacteria spread by ticks carries the same type of symptoms which begin about a week or two after the bite, according to information on the Cleveland Clinic’s website.
While it’s hard to draw conclusions, Smith said the limited data she has shows the American dog tick can be found in areas closer to human habitation and not just in the wild in a mountain forest or on some sage brush — unlike some other species.
Human Attraction?
“I do think it’s a little bit concerning because just puts the tick in closer proximity to people,” she said. “I've seen it next to the sidewalk, not directly on the sidewalk, but like the grass or the vegetation … in a pasture around the home, (and) someone picked one up when they were barbecuing on their deck. And so that is, to me, concerning and strange.”
American dog ticks have a dark brown body and females have an off-white dorsal shield while the males are mottled with whitish gray markings.
Determination that a tick is established in a region requires six of the ticks in the same single life stage and Sheridan County definitely qualified while Natrona County’s tick could be a sign it’s gone farther west into Central Wyoming than known previously. A tick from the species also was sent to her from Campbell County.
At Natrona County’s Weed & Pest program Supervisor Matt Jolivet said the single tick came from a human interaction so “it’s reasonable to assume” the tick’s range has expanded. He characterizes Teton County’s tick surveillance program as a good thing for the state.
“They’re in good partnership with all the (Weed & Pest) districts,” he said. Jolivet said his office would be happy to be a go-between for anyone who wants to send ticks in for the surveillance program. He said a good way to capture a tick is to use clear packaging tape folded in on itself.
“It won’t get out of the packaging tape,” he said.
For his own crews who are regularly in sage brush and potential tick areas, he advises doing a tick search after the job. His personal preference is to spray his pant legs between his knee and boots with a DEET repellant to keep the ticks at bay.
Smith advises people tuck their pants into their socks when in tick country in addition to wearing an approved repellant. Other prevention items include checking pets for ticks daily during tick season, putting clothes in the dryer at high heat for 10 minutes to kill ticks on clothing and showering within two hours after coming indoors to rid ticks before they attach themselves.
Smith said she plans to continue her mail-in tick program indefinitely and will be looking for more help from the public this year. The program is meant to provide information about the number of ticks, diversity, distribution, and potential tick-borne pathogen prevalence. The lab does not provide diagnostics on ticks that may have bitten people.
Information on how to help be a “citizen scientist” and submit ticks to the program is available at the tcweed.org.
