Ticks Making A Resurgence On Nantucket This Summer

This summer may be an unusually prolific one for ticks on Nantucket—and the Lone Star species is a particular standout.

“We have had way more Lone Star ticks than before,” said Dr. Sarah Bois, director of research and education at the Linda Loring Nature Foundation on Eel Point Road. “Lone Star ticks have kind of gone island-wide now and unfortunately are a thriving population.”

Because of the damp spring and mild winter, the tick population on the island is flourishing. It’s too early to say for sure if there are more ticks on Nantucket than in past years, but some professionals, including tick expert Dr. Tim Lepore, believe there are.

“I think that it’s a little bit busier this year than last year looking at it from my office and what I've seen,” he said. “I think the numbers are going to turn out to be a little bit higher.”

Lepore said he’s seen several cases of anaplasmosis, at least ten cases of babesiosis, and even more cases of Lyme disease—though the official numbers reported by the state will likely be lower, as they require a positive blood test soon after a tick bite to count a case. In many cases in which a Lyme disease rash is present and obvious, clinicians order a round of antibiotics without a confirming lab test.

Lepore also noted that he has seen four cases of tularemia - sometimes called "rabbit fever" a shockingly high figure. People can contract tularemia from tick and deer fly bites, as well as skin contact with infected animals.

“Four cases of tularemia are sort of unheard of. I've had to hunt for cases and now all of a sudden four,” Lepore said.

But the stand out is the Lone Star ticks, which had previously been rare on the island and confined mostly to Tuckernuck. Studies conducted on Nantucket have shown increasing numbers of Lone Star ticks in recent years, suggesting the population has yet to level off. In some areas, Lone Star tick populations have exploded, greatly surpassing deer tick levels, a fate Nantucket may soon share.

“We had a known protocol, so I felt comfortable with our level of risk,” said Bois, who is exposed to large numbers of ticks in her off-trail work at the Linda Loring Nature Foundation. “Lone Star ticks are just an unknown.”

One reason for the increase? Climate change. According to Bois, there are some reports of ticks resembling the Lone Star species in the area from several centuries ago, but after colonization and the clearing of many old-growth forests in the northeast, Lone Star ticks vanished. Until recently, as warmer winters and a lack of deep freezes have facilitated their return to the region.

Lone Star ticks are actually less likely to carry pathogens than deer ticks, but they can carry alpha-gal syndrome, or AGS, a food allergy that makes people allergic to red meat and other products made from mammals, like milk. Bois knows several people who have contracted the allergy on Nantucket, and Lepore said he’s seen three cases so far this year. While AGS can be serious and symptoms should be immediately reported to a healthcare professional, it is often not as dangerous as some reports suggest.

“There are cases where people go into anaphylactic shock if they eat meat, but for the most part, most people might have severe digestive issues and headaches and brain fog but it’s not life-threatening,” Bois said. “There’s a spectrum of responses.”

AGS can be as mild as a rash in certain cases. Bois also emphasized that while Lone Star ticks are new to Nantucket, the southeast has always had them.

While adult female Lone Star ticks are marked with the white spot that gives them their name, nymphs, and adult males do not have the spot, making identification more difficult. Lone Star ticks can be differentiated from deer ticks by color and speed: they are a reddish brown, rather than black, and tend to be faster than their counterparts.

To protect yourself from ticks, stay on trails when walking, keep your lawn cut, and check yourself regularly. If you find a tick soon after it attaches itself, the danger is minimal.

“If you find them right away, you just pick them off and you're fine,” Bois said.

Little is known about AGS, making it difficult to plan for. There are no known distinctive early signs, like the erythema migrans rash that often accompanies Lyme disease, and it can take months before symptoms develop. As a result, many people don’t even realize they have AGS. But it can be confirmed with a blood test, and symptomatic individuals should seek medical attention even if they haven’t pulled a tick off of them recently.