Ticks have already emerged in some parts of Maine this month and are likely to be active throughout the spring.
This winter’s temperatures were colder compared to those in recent years, which can limit tick survival in certain conditions. But that doesn’t mean the ticks, and the diseases they carry, are likely to drop off in 2025.
That’s because the colder temperatures also kept snow cover on the ground, insulating the ticks and protecting them from cold weather, according to Griffin Dill, who coordinates the tick lab at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.
While warmer, wetter winters have likely helped them multiply and spread farther into Maine, it would take an extended period of temperatures in the single digits or below without snow on the ground to actually threaten their survival significantly, according to Dill.
“The duration of winter plays a role as well,” he said. “If cold winter conditions last long enough, ticks can exhaust their energy/fat reserves and fewer ticks will make it to spring.”
Maine has already seen 291 reported cases of Lyme Disease this year as of March 17, concentrated in Midcoast counties, along with 16 cases of anaplasmosis and 10 of babesiosis scattered around the state.
Experts have previously said those case numbers don’t give a complete picture, as some tick-borne diseases aren’t recorded or people may not know they have them.
Lyme Disease, which was reported in record-breaking numbers in Maine last year, can often be identified by a bullseye-shaped rash around the bite from an infected deer tick. Symptoms include fatigue, fever, chills and soreness, which can develop into neurological and heart problems.
Anaplasmosis also causes fatigue and fever symptoms a week or two after infection, along with nausea and abdominal pain, difficulty breathing, kidney failure and neurological problems. Babesiosis leads to fever and chills, headaches and anemia.
These diseases can be treated if they’re identified. A handful of other tick-borne illnesses have been identified in the state including Powassan Encephalitis, which has killed several Mainers, and Hard Tick Relapsing Fever.
Individual ticks can be tested for disease through the university extension.
