10 U.S. Cities With the Worst Lyme-Carrying Tick Problem And What To Do About It

top cities for ticks in the US

 

 

With warmer weather finally spreading through all of North America, more people want to spend time outside—hiking, picnicking, and enjoying the great outdoors. It has been a sad fact that this healthy hobby has one consistent danger—being bitten by a tick that carries Lyme disease. Some cities are worse than others when it comes to population of ticks.

Knowing where the ticks are is not meant for fearing those places, but to be aware of your surroundings in order to be more careful when hiking in these areas.

It can be lifesaving to know how to avoid being bitten, knowing exactly what to do if a tick bite does happen, and in the worse-case scenario—even contracting a Lyme disease has a natural effective protocol.

10 Top Cities With Tick Problems

The list of top 10 cities with tick problems comes from data published by the lawn maintenance company TruGreen.

Do not be fooled by the name, there is not much green about them as over 50% of ingredients used are possible carcinogens.

The data, however, based on over 30,000 Lyme disease cases every year (some research suggests up to 300,000), is useful for knowing which areas have had an increase in tick population. In some places, it has tripled between 2004 and 2016, reported AccuWeather.

It is important to note that TruGreen was able to analyze data based on their own customers only, but their reach is all over the U.S. as one of the most popular lawn companies. This is the most comprehensive recent data available, and it’s important to know before you head out on a hike or any other outdoor activity this summer.

 

 
lyme disease ticks prevalence US map

Source: Clemson University

  1. Chicago, Illinois
  2. Hartford, Connecticut
  3. Boston, Massachusetts
  4. New Monmouth, New Jersey
  5. Washington, D.C.
  6. Rapid City, South Dakota
  7. Boise, Idaho
  8. Dayton, Ohio
  9. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  10. St. Louis, Missouri

 

How to Protect Yourself from Ticks Naturally

Now that we know the 10 areas that are likely to be teeming with the most ticks in this coming year, it’s also quite helpful to know how to prevent them from biting you, regardless of where you happen to be living and what you happen to be doing. Be sure to use natural tick-control methods whenever possible.

Here’s how to protect yourself:

Protect yourself at your home

  • Keep the lawn short (at least the foot paths you walk on) as ticks love to hide in tall grass.
  • If you do like tall grass, plant fragrant anti-tick varieties that repel ticks naturally. These include: garlic, mint rosemary, fleabane daisy, lavender, and chrysanthemums.
  • Remove all leaf litter that ticks can hide in.
  • Consider owning chickens. They eat ticks and other insects leaving your backyard naturally pest-free.

Protect yourself outside/in nature:

While DEET (N, N-diethyl-m-toluamide) spray is considered to be the best, it is very harmful to humans.

The New York Health Department has a warning against using DEET for children and pregnant women. It can lead to skin reactions and nervous systems problems including seizures, and coma.

What’s even worse—the longer and the more you use DEET, the more chance you have to experience an adverse reaction.

A better solution to this toxic spray is to use a natural alternative instead.

Nootkatone is a natural compound derived from cedarwood essential oil. It is non-toxic, repels ticks and other insects, and a strong dose of it kills ticks in just 15 seconds.

Actual Nootkatone is expensive and rare to find, but consumers have had great luck with using the cedarwood essential oil itself. You can buy high-quality cedarwood oil by NOW online.

Besides using a natural repellent, wearing long layers of clothing and exposing minimal amount of skin helps keep ticks away. Also, be sure to check your socks and as much of your skin as possible after leaving a potential tick-infested area.

 

If You’ve Been Bitten By A Tick

The quicker you remove the tick from your body, the less chance you have of contracting any disease from it. This is why it is important to check your body after every time you spend outside. A tick that has not fed yet is generally small and flat, which makes it harder to see—look carefully.

To remove a tick, use fine-point tweezers to grab it by the head, twist, and pull.

If you find a tick on you that is bigger inside, meaning it has fed recently, and you experience a fever, headaches, or join pain—seek attention and advice from a health professional.

For a holistic prevention of Lyme after a bite, it has been recommended to take a homeopathic remedy called Ledum 30C. Take 1 pellet twice a day for 2 days after a tick bite for prevention.

Natural Lyme Disease Protocol

For people who have contracted Lyme, there is still hope. There is a natural protocol that is said to be 75% effective, believe it or not according to a doctor by the name of Bill Rawls.

Dr. Rawls was a conventional medical doctor until he himself contracted Lyme disease. He immediately found that antibiotics and mainstream treatments did not work, and instead found a natural route.

After trying everything he could find, he described his cure in Stephen Buhner’s book, “Healing Lyme.”

“I was able to recover my health completely — the things that I learned along the way changed my life forever,” Dr. Rawls writes.

The Buhner Protocol uses herbal medicine to support the body’s functions and prevent damage caused by Lyme, remove inflammation in the body, treat Lyme symptoms and finally to help kill the Lyme bacteria responsible for this disease.

The three main herbs it uses are: Cat’s Claw, Japanese knotweed, and eluthero.

This natural treatment protocol worked wonders for Dr. Rawls.

He writes: “As for the borrelia microbe, I may still harbor it. Whether anyone ever gets rid of it is a complete unknown. But the most important thing is that I’m living a normal life, free of symptoms and also free of many of the effects of aging that most people of my age experience.”

Read more about Dr. Rawls journey in his book Unlocking Lyme: Myths, Truths, and Practical Solutions for Chronic Lyme Disease.”

This article is for informational purposes only. Consult a doctor before beginning any treatment regiment. For more information see our full disclaimer here

Recommended reading

How to Keep Ticks from Biting You with One Simple Natural Remedy

Doctor Disillusioned with Medicine Goes The Alternative Route – Makes a Recovery from Lyme Disease in Just 3 Months. Here’s What He Used…

Thanks for installing the Bottom of every post plugin by Corey Salzano. Contact me if you need custom WordPress plugins or website design.

Comments

comments

Categories: Alternative Medicine.
About AltHealth Admin