Iowa’s unusual stretch of warm weather in late winter and early spring has led to earlier than normal tick activity and start to the tick-borne disease season. Ticks can carry the organisms that cause Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and Ehrlichiosis. Everyone needs to start protecting themselves against tick bites. For information on how to prevent tick bites and tick removal when a bite does occur, please share the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention information at www.cdc.gov/ticks/avoid/on_people.html. For guidelines on the safe use of insect repellants, visit www.idph.state.ia.us/idph_universalhelp/main.aspx?system=IdphEpiManual&context=DEET_factsheet.

The most common tick-borne disease in Iowa is Lyme disease; 85 cases of Lyme disease were reported to IDPH in 2011.The most diagnostic and earliest sign of infection is a rash that may appear within a few days to a month, usually at the site of the tick bite. The rash will first look like a small, red bump, then expand until it begins to look like a bull’s eye, with a red center and a red ring surrounding a clear area. Unfortunately, this rash does not appear in everyone.  For more information on Lyme disease, visit www.idph.state.ia.us/idph_universalhelp/main.aspx?system=IdphEpiManual&context=Lyme_Disease_factsheet. The Iowa State University Medical Entomology laboratory conducts tick surveillance across the state and that surveillance data is available at www.ent.iastate.edu/medent/ticks_IA.