Bay Area Lyme Foundation, which aims to make Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure, applauds new research published online on August 10, 2014 in the Elsevier peer-reviewed journal Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases. The findings show that ticks that carry Lyme disease in Northwest California are active throughout the year, making the threat of Lyme disease year-round. The research was conducted by researchers at California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Vector-borne Disease Section and University of California, Berkeley (UC-B). "These results are critical as they offer proof that it is possible to become infected with Lyme disease in the Bay Area at any time of the year," said Linda Giampa, Executive Director, Bay Area Lyme Foundation. "It underscores the need for residents to take precautions year-round and know the symptoms of the disease. While the threat in Northwest California is lower, it's more constant than the Northeast USA." The findings suggest that the timing of peak tick activity of Western Black-legged ticks (Ixodes pacificus) (image), which are the ticks most commonly known to carry Lyme disease in Northwest California is largely predictable and year-round. In general, tick larvae (young ticks) are active April to June, and sometimes activity extends into October, while adult ticks are active from October to May. From January to October, nymphal ticks (which are younger and smaller than adult ticks, but older than larvae) become active. Interestingly, the highest reported incidence of Lyme disease in humans in Northwest California correlate to the times when the younger, smaller ticks (nymphal I. pacificus), which are smaller than a poppy seed, are most active.Login Or Register To Read Full Story