that is often ties to Lyme disease, often lives in forested habitats and in areas of high moisture, Oliver says.
Dr Jon Oliver (pictured), an entomologist at the University of Minnesota, says that a person can take easy steps to protect themselves from tick-born illness, like using bug spray, wearing long-sleeves in areas with risk of exposure and doing tick checks afterwards.A tick that feeds off of a rat may acquire the disease, then pass the bacteria that causes it onto the next animal it feeds off of.
'Most tick born diseases require a tick to feed for at least 24 hours before they transfer the bacterial disease,' Oliver said.He explains that after within the first 24 hours of a tick attaching itself to a human, the risk of disease transmission is low.Deer ticks, which are the most common in America and often spread Lyme disease, frequent in bushy areas with high humidity.Because of this, a person should do regular tick checks after they come back in from an outdoor activity in a place where there was a risk of tick exposure.Infections are rare, with Oliver saying that only around half of ticks are actually infected with a disease like Lyme diseaseIt can take around 24 hours for a tick to pass on a disease it is carrying over to a human, meaning that regular and thorough tick checks can help prevent the contraction of dangerous bacterial infections