BY CHRISTOPHER KAZARIAN
Just how debilitating is Lyme disease? In 2008, Pat Mercer was moving a patio at his home in Wellfleet on a Friday.
Two days later, at a party at his second home in western Massachusetts, a friend noticed a bull’s-eye rash on his body.
“I didn’t know I had even been bit,” Mercer said. “They started me up on antibiotics. Honestly, I was sick for a couple of weeks. I had the worst fatigue and flu-like symptoms for a year and a half. I was only 40 years old at the time.”
It was so bad he could not mow the lawn without stopping. And he could not play nine holes of golf.
All this from an insect that is smaller than an apple seed.
Since then, Mercer has been helping homeowners take proactive steps to protect themselves against the insects that have only grown in number from when he first launched Cape Cod Tick & Mosquito 15 years ago. “It seems like it is getting worse since our winters are getting milder,” he said, adding, “I think Barnstable County is number one in the nation as far as tick-borne illnesses. This is a hotspot for sure.”
His company, which also sprays for mosquitoes, covers all of Cape Cod and extends off-Cape to Marion and Scituate.
Many of his customers contact him because they read or watched a story in the news about ticks “and they want to be safe,” he said. “Some have gotten Lyme disease or know somebody who has.”
He said the majority of ticks people find are dog ticks, which are larger, lighter in color and pose a lower risk of transmitting Lyme disease. Deer ticks are smaller, darker and pose a higher risk of transmitting the disease.
New to the scene is the lone star tick, which is blacklegged with a distinct white spot on the female’s back. They pose a different type of threat—alpha-gal syndrome. Its symptoms include a long-lasting rash as well as gastrointestinal issues— these could include nausea, difficulty breathing, dizziness, a drop in blood pressure and severe stomach pain—after eating beef, pork, lamb or dairy products.
This spring, Cape Cod Healthcare reported that the lone star tick is the number-one tick on Martha’s Vineyard. Here on the Cape, Mercer said, he has yet to see one.
As for homeowners, he said, ticks are not typically found on well-maintained lawns.
Areas of concern are typically the perimeter of one’s property where there is heavy brush; stacks of firewood where mice can hide, as ticks like to feed on them; and underneath decks. “If you look around a property, anywhere a mouse can hide is often where ticks come from,” Mercer said.
There are two times of year—spring and fall—when ticks should be top of mind to Cape Codders, Mercer said, noting the life cycle of ticks begins in July when eggs hatch. “That first life stage is not going to pose a problem for anybody,” he said. “They lay eggs in the area where they had their last meal, which is usually in the den of a mouse. Once they hatch, they get their first meal from there. If they do venture out and bite you or your pet, you may never even know it because the larval stage is so small you never see them.”
Once they feed in July, he said, they go dormant and then reemerge in October, which is the nymph stage and point where they pose a threat. “They are most dangerous in the fall,” Mercer said. “That is when most of the ticks are carrying diseases and also when they are breeding. If you kill them at that point, it makes the rest of the year much easier.”
His company will typically do one spray in the spring, when the insects come out of winter dormancy. “If you time it right, you can kill 95 percent of them in the spring,” he said. He guarantees his spring spray through September.
While turkeys and possums will eat ticks, they do not have many predators to make a difference in the size of their population.
“Each female tick can lay a minimum of 3,000 eggs apiece,” Mercer said. “We’ve seen hatches where thousands of ticks are crawling under a deck at one time. It is pretty nasty.”
With a license that requires hours of continuous training on an annual basis, Mercer’s company uses a low-concentration, high-volume spray that focuses solely on ticks with the goal of causing little to no harm to non-target insects, such as bees. It also offers organic alternatives as part of its services.
“You’re better off having a professional come in than buying a backpack and spraying on your own,” Mercer said, noting people should be concerned about ticks not only for their pets, but themselves. “It is life changing, especially if you’re older and get one of these diseases. It is going to change your life and not for the better, that’s for sure.”
RESOURCES IN THE COMMUNITY
To learn more about Cape Cod Tick & Mosquito, visit capecodtick.com
The Barnstable County Department of Health and Environment has extensive information on tick-borne illnesses and prevention, which can be found at capecod.gov
If you’ve been bitten by a tick, you can submit a photo to the University of Rhode Island’s TickSpotters program, which can identify the tick and determine the risk to your health. For more details, visit https://web.uri.edu/tickencounter/tickspotters/