The anticipated warm, wet winter may create ideal breeding conditions for the 50 species of ticks in California, including the western black-legged tick which transmits Lyme disease, according to Nancy Hinkle, a UC Riverside veterinary entomologist. Cases of Lyme disease in humans have been on the rise in California and across the nation, with more than 16,000 cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control in 1996.
Ticks are more active during the warmer days of winter and early spring.
Lyme disease is treatable, but it sometimes causes debilitating conditions like arthritis and nervous system and cardiac abnormalities that require hospitalization. As with many diseases, the best treatment is prevention, in this case by avoiding contact with ticks, Hinkle said. Females, reddish brown in color with black legs, are more likely to transmit the disease because they take longer, larger blood meals from their animal or human hosts. Most commonly encountered in the wild, the western black-legged tick is found primarily in the western half of California and is most prevalent from November to May. In fact, ticks need several hours to become firmly attached and, after doing so, rarely transmit disease within the first day.