Caution Urged To Avoid Tick-Borne Illness

As the weather warms across Wisconsin, public health officials are urging caution about ticks and the growing number illnesses they carry.

Tick-borne illnesses such as Lyme disease have been on the rise in Wisconsin over the last two decades. The latest Wisconsin Department of Health Services data shows 1,300 confirmed cases of Lyme disease and another 600 probable cases in 2015.

But University of Wisconsin-Madison entomology department chair Susan Paskewitz said other less common tick-borne diseases like Ehrlichiosis, Babesiosis, Anaplasmosis and Powassan virus have been on the rise as well.

“I would say there are more cases of the others, but I think it might be because we’re looking in a better way. We’re discovering new things we didn’t know were there before,” Paskewitz said.

Northwestern Wisconsin has the highest incidence rate, but Dane County epidemiologist Amanda Kita-Yarbro said they’ve seen Lyme cases spike in the last three years. She said prevention is key.

“Those would include wearing an insect repellent, putting permethrin on their clothes, wearing long sleeves and long pants if possible, and then doing tick checks at night,” Kita-Yarbro said.

She also recommends bathing after being in the woods because ticks don’t immediately attach to their host.