If you are heading out on the Katy Trail this month, you are walking straight through tick country. Rocheport sits where the trail runs along the base of the bluffs and out into the river bottoms — woods on one side, tall grass and brushy edges on the other. That is exactly the ground ticks like. The Missouri Department of Conservation puts their favorite haunts plainly: woodlands, tall grasses, weeds, and brushy areas, especially the weedy edges of paths. The center of the trail is your friend. The knee-high stuff along the edge is where you pick up a passenger.
Three ticks do most of the biting here. University of Missouri Extension says the two you are most likely to meet are the lone star tick and the American dog tick. The lone star — the female has a single white dot on her back — is the aggressive one, and MU Extension calls it Missouri’s most eager biter. The blacklegged tick, the one that carries Lyme disease back East, does live in Missouri but is rarely found on people here, which is why true Lyme disease is far less common in our part of the state than the headlines from the Northeast might suggest.
What our ticks can pass along is worth respecting. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services lists the tickborne illnesses reported in the state: Rocky Mountain spotted fever, ehrlichiosis, tularemia, Heartland virus, Bourbon virus, a Lyme-like illness, and southern tick-associated rash illness. There is one more that has put Missouri on the map: alpha-gal syndrome, a red-meat allergy that can start with a tick bite. As the state health department explains it, a bite can put a molecule called alpha-gal into your body, and some people’s immune systems then react to the alpha-gal in beef, pork, and other mammal products. The lone star tick — our most common one — is the tick tied to it.
Do not wait for cool weather to let your guard down. MU Extension is blunt that Missouri ticks have no off-season — some life stage of the lone star tick is around for most of the year, and they emerge any time they sense warmth. Peak biting runs roughly June through September, which is right now. Extension entomologist Emily Althoff recommends year-round use of repellents containing DEET.
Prevention is not complicated. The state health department suggests DEET on your skin and light-colored clothing so you can spot a crawler, and tucking your pant legs into your socks to slow them down. For clothing, the real workhorse is permethrin: MU Extension notes a 0.5 percent permethrin spray on your clothes actually kills ticks, and the state adds that it lasts through washing. Treat the boots and socks you wear on the trail, not your skin. When you get home, do a thorough tick check — and check the dog, who walked through the same grass you did.
If you find one attached, get it off promptly and correctly. Time matters: the health department says the longer a tick is attached, the greater the risk, and MU Extension notes most disease transmission happens after a tick has been attached longer than 24 to 36 hours. The method, from MU Extension: use a good set of tweezers, grasp the tick at the front of its body as close to your skin as you can, and pull straight out, slowly but firmly. Do not squeeze the back half of the tick. Skip the folk remedies — petroleum jelly, lighter fluid, a hot match. Extension says flatly they do not work. Dab the bite with antiseptic when you are done.
Then keep an eye on how you feel. MU Extension’s advice is the line worth remembering: see a doctor if you develop a fever or rash within several weeks of removing a tick. Tell them you were bitten. None of this should keep you off the Katy Trail — it is one of the best things about living here. It just means checking your ankles when you get back to the car.
Leave a Reply