Tiny menaces

Killers are on the loose throughout the forests of upstate New York - tiny, toothy killers that the state health department and many physicians urge New Yorkers to take very seriously.

From spring until just through November every year, until the weather drops below freezing again, deer ticks (Ixodes scapularis) are free to roam, burrowing into the skin of animals and humans alike.

Deer ticks by themselves are merely a painful nuisance, but when they are infected, they can cause Lyme disease, an illness that can debilitate humans for an extended time period and cause chronic health conditions. Ticks are also responsible for spreading other diseases such as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and HGE, human granulocytic ehrlichiosis. Nearby regions that are highly endemic to Lyme disease include southeastern New York state, the Hudson Valley, Long Island and Connecticut.