Areas that are wooded or have dense foliage — suburban or rural — tend to have more Lyme disease cases. Ticks live in wooded areas and brush. So you won’t get it in an urban area, for example, where there’s little greenery. Golf courses can be risky. When golfers hit a golf ball into the brush, they leave the highly manicured golf course and go into the brush, which could be an area where there are a lot of ticks. The presence of whitetail deer is another indicator that there might be Lyme disease, or small mammals such as white-footed mice, which can be carriers.

And are all ticks bad? Or is it specifically deer ticks?
Lyme disease is transmitted by the deer tick, also known as the blacklegged tick. Other ticks, such as dog ticks, can transmit other illnesses, but not Lyme disease.

And what about pets? Are they at risk of carrying Lyme disease, or getting it themselves?
Yes, pets can bring ticks into the house. For example, if your dog is out running in the woods, comes inside and sits on the furniture or sleeps in the bed with you, it does increase your likelihood of getting a tick bite. And a dog can contract Lyme disease, although they have certain protections that we don’t have yet, like vaccination. Dogs can be vaccinated, and many dogs take a tick and flea treatment that prevents them from getting tick bites.

If I’m someone who is outdoors a lot in the summer, what are things that I can do to protect myself?
Be aware of your environment. When you hike, stay on the trail. You should tick-proof your clothing by wearing a repellent containing DEET. There are other repellents that contain more natural repellents — like lemon oil or eucalyptus — but those are not as effective at repelling ticks. If you can, wear light-colored clothing, so you can identify the tick more easily. Wear long pants and tuck them into your socks. And then the most important thing that you should do is every time you’re out in potential tick-laden areas, you should do a tick check. In general it takes 36 hours for a tick to infect you, so if you check for ticks that evening, you can feel pretty confident that you haven’t been bitten. Ticks like humid, warm areas to bite, so check all parts of your body, especially folds in your skin like your elbows, behind your knees, or on your neck.