Posted on 08/07/2018 5:55:08 PM PDT by BenLurkin
A tick species that's native to Asia has now spread to the United States, and it's popping up in numerous places along the East Coast, according to U.S. officials.
Females can reproduce asexually and lay thousands of eggs.
Female longhorned ticks don't need a male to reproduce. They can spawn asexually using a process known as parthenogenesis. After feeding, a single female can lay around 2,000 eggs, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. That's enough to establish a tick population in a new location, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says.
They suck so much blood, it can cause anemia, or even death, in livestock.
Due to these large numbers, longhorned ticks can cause severe infestations in livestock, leading to weakness, anemia or even death in the animal.
Adult longhorned ticks grow to the size of a pea when they are fully engorged with blood. At other stages of life, the ticks are very small the size of a poppy seed or smaller, according to the USDA.
Scientists don't know how they got here.
Scientists are still investigating how this tick species spread to the United States. It's possible it may have entered the country by hitching a ride on pets, horses, livestock or humans, the USDA said. The tick is also an invasive species in Australia, New Zealand and several Pacific islands.
The health threat to humans is unknown.
In other countries, the longhorned tick is known to transmit disease to both humans and livestock. These diseases include the bacterial infections babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, theileriosis and rickettsiosis, as well as certain viral diseases, according to the USDA. One virus spread by the longhorned tick causes a disease called severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), The New York Times reported Aug. 6. STFS can be deadly.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Bring back DDT. Buy DDT from India, China or even North Korea...all 3 manufacture and export such.
They are pretty bad, but they don’t transmit Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever or several of the other blood diseases that ticks do.
Lyme Disease is really the best one you can hope to get.
Illegal Tick PING
Scientists don’t know how they got here?
Gee, maybe it came in the luggage and on the backs of foreign nationals entering via reckless chain immigration policies.
Tick tock....
bmp
We need Arthur!
DDT.
Lots of it.
Exactly. At best you inconvenience them.
Exactly. At best you inconvenience them.
we dont need no NEW types of democrats
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