International travelers arriving in Connecticut are transporting ticks that are not native to this country, and the state is warning this has become a major health concern.
According to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES), the ticks are “hitchhiking on human travelers returning from international destinations.” CAES warned the ticks are able to establish populations and exacerbate a health issue that is already acute with a proliferation of native ticks.
“Just within the past few weeks, the CAES tick testing laboratory has received at least four exotic tick species from state residents returning from international destinations, including Europe, Africa, and South and Central America,” said Dr. Goudarz Molaei, a chief medical entomologist who directs CAES”™ tick and tick-borne diseases surveillance program. “These new introductions are in addition to several invasive ticks that the CAES has reported in the past few years.”
Photo of Asian longhorned tick courtesy of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
