The disease spreads predominantly through deer tick bites. Lyme diseaseĪccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the U.S.” The sections below will discuss these diseases in more detail. Afterward, there may be some irritation around the site of the bite.ĭepending on the bacteria they harbor in their bodies when they latch onto a new host, deer ticks can spread multiple diseases. The body of a feeding tick will stick out of the skin.
A female’s torso may also become more rust colored after ingesting blood.Īlthough the body of a blacklegged tick tends to be flat, after eating, it fills up and expands.ĭeer ticks will partially burrow into the skin and latch onto their host to feed. Females have a two-tone, lighter brown torso. Males are darker and generally have a uniform brown color, with a whitish strip around the outside of the abdomen. These are only about the size of a poppy seed.īoth adults and nymphs have eight long, black legs that extend from a round, bulb shaped abdomen. Immature ticks, or nymphs, can also bite. Deer ticks, scientifically known as Ixodes scapularis, exist primarily in the eastern and north-central parts of the United States.Ī similar species called the western blacklegged tick, or Ixodes pacificus, exists mainly in the western parts of the U.S.īlacklegged ticks are only about the size of a sesame seed.
