Officials in the state say they are seeing an increasing number of ticks carrying the deer tick virus.
It was initially found at very low levels in a few counties in 2019. However, that grew to 10 counties the following year and now it continues to increase.
Christian Boyer of the Department of Environmental Protection says it’s concerning because of its impact on humans.
“The biggest problem with deer tick virus is that it can be transmitted in as little as 15 minutes. Whereas these other pathogens that these ticks can transmit such as Lyme Disease and anaplasma take 24 hours to transmit infections,” Boyer said.
Boyer says most of the cases are still in the center of the state, but cautions people to be on the lookout as we enter the spring.
