Upside of the drought: Lyme ticks are dormant or dying

I’ve been meaning to do this story in New Hampshire; the Portland Press-Herald did it for Maine.

“Especially when you get away from the coastline, the dry conditions have knocked the tick population down,” Lubelczyk said. “The humidity along the coast keeps the tick numbers higher. When you go inland, the numbers of ticks we’re seeing in the field are down 50 to 75 percent.” However, that doesn’t mean 50 percent to 75 percent of inland deer ticks have actually died. Many have gone dormant, reducing their activity to survive the drought.

Here’s the story which notes that anaplasmosis and babesiosis, two other diseases trnsmitted by the same tick, have increased – for reasons that nobody understands.

Also, it says that dog tick populations are way up – something that everybody has noticed.