Tick, Tick... Boom! – Climate Change, tick tracking, and One Health

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A walk in the woods can bring serenity and peace of mind. You can bring back souvenirs such as a beautiful leaf, or a pine cone. Sometimes your souvenir is less lovely - a tick. Dogs, cats, and even horses can suffer from tick bites and responsible pet owners regularly check their companions for these unwelcome parasites.

Ticks can carry and transmit bacteria, viruses, and parasites that cause Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, Powassan virus, babesiosis, and erlichiosis.

Climate change is making new regions more tick-friendly, which is bad news for people and animals.

Dr. Katie Clow is an Assistant Professor in One Health in the Department of Population Medicine at the Ontario Veterinary College at Canada’s University of Guelph. She’s working on better ways to track ticks and their spread. She’s also got a website with useful information about ticks for people and pet owners.

In this episode of One World, One Health, listen as Katie explains why people need to keep an eye out for ticks, why simply clearing wildlife such as deer won’t help control ticks, and how climate change is helping ticks thrive in more regions of the world.