ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Think if you don’t go in the woods you can avoid ticks? Think again. Ticks have now been found in parks, lawns, and they even climb buildings. Ticks are active as long as the temperature is above 39 degrees Fahrenheit. So, in some places, ticks can be a threat year-round. Our expert shares how to avoid ticks and what to do if you get bit.
In the 90s, you’d mainly only see ticks in the northeast in the summer. Now, it’s always tick season.
“Now things migrate around and we see stuff everywhere,” said Robert Powers, DO, functional medicine doctor at Eternal Vitality.
And more tick bites have sent people to the ER this past summer than the past 10 years! The big danger is Lyme disease.
“You can get things like chronic pain, joint pain, fatigue, you can get gut issues. I’ve even seen patients with heart failure from this,” Dr. Powers told Ivanhoe.
While there is no vaccine, he says the best way to fight Lyme disease is to prevent it. When in a tick-prone area, wear long clothing, use a repellent like deet, and when you’re inside check for ticks.
“You need to check all these crevices and nooks, kind of the hidden places. So a lot of times it helps if someone helps check you also, because you may not see it,” Dr. Powers explained.
Hot spots are legs, back of knees, groin, underarms, ears, and scalp. If you find a tick, you need to remove it as quickly as possible.
“You want to use tweezers because you can leave part of it behind,” said Dr. Powers.
Then monitor yourself for fever or rash afterwards. The rash will often look like a bullseye.
“If you have early treatment, we can cure it pretty easily,” Dr. Powers told Ivanhoe.
And if you don’t catch your illness until later, he says it’s never too late to start treatment.
Lyme disease isn’t the only illness you can get from ticks. You can also contract anaplasmosis, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and alpha-gal syndrome, which all have overlapping symptoms with Lyme. Dr. Powers says at his clinic when you are tested for a chronic tick-born illness, you’re tested for all of the illness at once to make sure you get the correct treatment.
Contributors to this news report include: Marcy Wilder, Associate Producer; Shay Goldschmidt, Videographer; Chuck Bennethum, Editor.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/well/ticks-climate-change.html
https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/data-research/facts-stats/lyme-disease-case-map.html
* For More Information, Contact: Rebecca Torres
Patient Care Coordinator for Eternal Vitality
RebeccaTorres@myeternalvitality.com
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