Tickborne diseases increasing in U.S. due to greater tick density and expanding range

Are you a wildlife photographer? Do you photograph wildlife in the Eastern half of the United States, especially in the Northeast, or along U.S. West Coast? That's prime Deer Tick territory.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of reported cases of tickborne disease in the U.S. has more than doubled over the past 13 years. Fully 82 percent of reported tickborne disease in the U.S. is Lyme disease.

According to a new advisory from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), tickborne diseases are likely to significantly increase.

Zika and Lyme Disease are a problem for millions who spend this summer outdoors in the U.S.

This summer, millions of Americans, and travelers in the U.S. will encounter the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes potentially carrying the Zika virus, along with varieties of the North American black-legged tick carrying Lyme Disease.

How wide-spread the transmission of Zika will become is unknown. This is the first summer since some cases of Zika have been reported in the U.S. On the other hand, the black-legged tick, otherwise known as the Deer Tick, has been transmitting Lyme Disease in the U.S. for many years.

Travelers, wildlife and travel photographers, hikers, campers, and others enjoying parks, wildlife refuges, forests, and other outdoor venues in the range of these disease transmitting insects in the U.S., as shown on the map above, will need to take precautions to avoid their bites to prevent contracting Zika and Lyme Disease.

Wildlife photography and Lyme Disease

Are you a wildlife photographer? Do you photograph wildlife in the Eastern half of the United States, especially in the Northeast, or along US west coast? Perhaps you're making wildlife photographs in Europe? If you photograph wildlife in those areas you're photographing in locales where Deer Ticks live out their two year life cycle.

I'm not suggesting you skip wildlife shooting in areas which have deer ticks. I enjoy more than 100 sessions each year in those areas, and in fact, after shoots, about once a year, I've found deer ticks under my clothing.

This article is intended to inform you about deer ticks and Lyme Disease, how to hopefully prevent yourself from being infected, recognize if you're infected, and if infected, what to do to minimize the effects of Lyme Disease.