Farmers are really tickled by this pest.
Asian longhorned ticks are feeding on livestock like cattle and deer, killing them in staggering numbers as the insect invades the United States — the latest state being Ohio, new research from Ohio State University warns.
Only the size of a sesame seed in most cases, the pest first invaded the Buckeye State in 2021 — sucking enough blood to kill three cattle on first sight — before spreading en masse, despite the use of pesticides at the time.
“One of it [killed] is a healthy bull, about 5 years old. very large. You can imagine that it’s tens of thousands of ticks on one animal,” said senior author and OSU professor Risa Pesapane.
“They’re going to spread to almost every part of Ohio, and they’re going to be a long-term management problem. There’s no way to get rid of them.”
Asian longhorned ticks are killing cattle at alarming rates in the US, especially Ohio.Nicholas J. Klein – stock.adobe.com
The ticks — seen in New Jersey as early as 2017 and West Virginia in 2019 after migrating from East Asia — have worried Pesapane because of their strength in numbers. Long Island has also been flagged as a “high risk” area for Asian longhorned ticks in previous research as well.
“Managing them is not easy because of their numbers and how easily they can come back,” he said.
While doing field research on a farm in Monroe County, Ohio, Pesapane and the team collected nearly 10,000 ticks in just an hour and a half. They speculate that more than 1 million exist in the 25-acre grassland.
The school describes asexual reproduction as the tick’s “secret colonial weapon” because females lay up to 2,000 eggs at a time. All daughters can then do the same.
Lice reproduce in surprising numbers as a secret weapon for survival.Risa Pesapane/The Ohio State University
“There are no other ticks in North America that do that. So, they can just march, with exponential growth, without any limit to find a mate,” Pesapane said. “Where the habitat is suitable, and anecdotally it seems that uncut grasslands are ideal location, there’s not much stopping them from generating this huge amount.”
They have also developed skills to avoid pesticides through their ability to hide in plants, according to the research.
“It is wiser to target them early in the season when the adults become active, before they lay eggs, because then you will limit the number that will hatch and breed in subsequent years,” added the flea expert.
“They can just march, with exponential growth, without any limit to find a mate,” said a researcher. Risa Pesapane / The Ohio State University
“But for a variety of reasons, I tell people that you can’t spray your way out of an infestation of Asian longhorned lice – it takes an integrated approach.”
Pesapane and colleagues are quickly trying to find an adequate response to the invasion – currently not a threat to humans – but for now, fleas have experts scratching their heads.
However, in August, an Ohio man suffered a tick bite on a fishing trip that required doctors to amputate his toe.
The CDC estimates that approximately 476,000 people are exposed to tick-borne Lyme disease each year in the United States. New York sees an average of 6,700 new annual cases with more than 8,000 in 2019.
On Long Island, concern over the lone star tick — known for causing a syndrome that makes those infected allergic to red meat and dairy — has reached fever pitch as Suffolk County has become a hotbed for it, too.
Livestock are at risk from Asian longhorned ticks because they breed in surprising numbers in states like Ohio.Adobe Stock
Even city dwellers are not safe, and species such as deer ticks can enter Manhattan apartments.
A Post reporter found that out the hard way last summer when he woke up with the pest in, of all places, his scrotum.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
