>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

Good clothing to wear when venturing into tick-laden woods includes long pants. It is best to pull socks over pants. Light-colored clothing is best because it is easier to spot ticks. (Observer file photo).

Dick Mason

The Observer

These tiny bloodsuckers never appear in horror movies.

But people spending time outdoors find them more frightening than blood in a Boris Karloff film.

Ticks are the bloodsuckers in question and they are making more than cameo appearances this month in Northeast Oregon forests.

This is tick season, the time of year when the insect is most likely to crawl on to people, according to Glen Scoles, a research entomologist with the Animal Disease Research Unit of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Pullman, Wash.

Rocky Mountain wood and American dog ticks are seeking to latch on to people and large animals in the spring so they can get the blood meal they need before they can lay eggs. These ticks spent the fall and winter feeding on rodents while in their immature nymph stage.

The ticks are now on vegetation waiting for people or large animals to walk by and brush against them. Only then can ticks attach themselves to a host because they cannot fly or jump.

Rocky Mountain wood and American dog ticks have four pairs of legs and right now many have two pairs extended so they can latch on to a person or animal walking by.

"They are sticking out like little hooks,'' Scoles said.

Some people are convinced that ticks can fly and this is understandable. Many mistake the Ked fly, found in this region, for a tick. The Ked fly, which has a flat tick-like body, usually does not feed on people.

In addition to the flight myth, another is that ticks in this region spread Lyme disease. No ticks in Eastern Oregon or Washington spread the ailment, Scoles said. Lyme disease is a tick-borne bacterial infection that can be disabling if untreated.

People can contract Lyme disease, however, in Western Oregon and Washington where it is spread by the western blacklegged tick. This tick is not found east of the Cascades. Still some people are convinced that they have contracted Lyme disease in Eastern Oregon and Washington. Scoles believes this is because they have conditions which have been misdiagnosed as Lyme disease.

"There is no scientific evidence that there is Lyme disease in the Intermountain West,'' Scoles said.

The Intermountain west includes Eastern Oregon and Washington, Idaho, Wyoming and western Montana.

Ticks in this region can spread Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The disease causes fever and headaches but is effectively treated with tetracyclines. It can be fatal if untreated.

Ticks pick up Rocky Mountain spotted fever from the rodents they feed on through the winter.

The severity of the previous winter is not a major factor in determining how many ticks are out in the spring, Scoles said. Tick numbers are not as influenced by the previous winter as "much as people think.''

A factor that may play a large role in spring tick numbers is the fall rodent population. Ground squirrels and mice are among the rodents ticks feed on in the fall and winter.

Each spring ticks continue to be a problem though late June. The best way to protect yourself from them is to avoid brushy and grassy areas, wear good protective clothing and check yourself after being outdoors.

Appropriate clothing includes long pants. It is best to pull socks over long pants. Light-colored clothing is best because it is easier to see ticks a light background.

It is always good to check your scalp for ticks because they like hair. Running a comb through your hair is a good way to rid yourself of them, Scoles said. Tick repellents with permethrin are also an effective way of protecting yourself from the insect. Such repellents should be sprayed only on clothes, not on skin, Scoles said.

Checking your pets for ticks after they have been outside is also a good precaution. Dogs are particularly likely to pick up ticks because they like to go into the brushy and grassy areas where ticks are found.

By July the likelihood of coming into contact with ticks in Eastern Oregon and Washington is reduced dramatically. Ticks are no longer high up on vegetation with two pairs of legs extended trying to latch on to animals. The ones that did not succeed in finding a host have moved lower to find cooler places with more moisture, Scoles said.

These ticks may die or in rare cases come out again in the fall in another attempt to find a host.