Since 2017, the Haemaphysalis longicornis or long-horned tick has been moving from its initial infestation in the nation’s eastern states and earlier this summer was detected in southeast Ohio.
It can be hazardous to dogs, cats and cattle as well as humans and USDA officials have now said for the first time the species may be in Butler County.
Raghu, who works at the Oxford Veterinary Hospital and specializes in infectious animal diseases, said in September a Hamilton woman brought in her dog whose scalp including the tiny larva, about the size of a speck of pepper.
The larva has six legs but grow to sport eight legs as adults.
The dog had stepped into a nest of the ticks while out walking and was quickly swarmed by them.
Raghu, sent the tick to USDA officials who said while they are still examining the larva, preliminary findings confirm her suspicion that it is the Asian long-horned tick.
“This tick can carry diseases important to both dogs and humans like Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and it can reproduce asexually which means that it can spread rapidly. This tick is especially devastating to cattle and it is important for farmers to be on the lookout,” said Raghu.
Stephen Young, an entomologist with an Iowa-based USDA lab, wrote Raghu recently noting: “This is likely the first record of Asian longhorned tick in Butler County, Ohio pending verification by other USDA sources.”
According to a late June study by the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), the single-digit cases of the tick had been reported in 14 southeast Ohio counties, with none being farther west of that region than Franklin County in Central Ohio and Pike and Ross counties in the state’s south-central region.
There were no ODH reports of the tick in Butler or other southwest and west-central counties.
Adding to the problematic nature of the tick is a rapid reproduction rate, said Raghu, because the species’ females are asexual and can reproduce without males.
“The female doesn’t have to mate before she can lay thousands of tick eggs.”
“This is a completely different species that isn’t found in our area. And from my talks with experts, this is not going away and will just become more prevalent,” she said.
“The problem is that the ticks can carry really bad infectious diseases. When a tick bites and it is allowed to feed (on its host) for more than 24 hours, that is when whatever infectious disease it is harboring spreads through their saliva.”
The Hamilton-based dog was treated and doing fine, she said.
To avoid all species of ticks on dogs and cats, Raghu recommends using tick prevention drugs and other applications year around – not just in the warmer months – and to keep dogs and cats from walking in long grass and taller plants.
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