Warmer winters make for more ticks. What are the challenges in diagnosing diseases they can carry?

Warmer winters in Connecticut are helping to welcome invasive ticks, and the diseases they can carry.

Nearly half of the ticks in Connecticut are carrying one pathogen, according to Dr. Goudarz Molaei, head of the state's tick surveillance program; and at least three invasive tick species are being tracked.

Mary Beth Pfeiffer joins to touch more on the link between climate change and the spread of ticks. She's the author of Lyme: The First Epidemic of Climate Change.

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Be on the lookout for these three invasive tick species in Connecticut: the Asian longhorned tick shown as an A) adult, B) nymph and C) larva; the D) female Gulf Coast tick and E) male Gulf Coast tick; and F) the Lone Star tick.

Katherine Dugas / Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station

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Blacklegged ticks, also known as deer ticks, are known to carry the bacterium that can cause Lyme disease. A blacklegged tick is shown here "partially engorged."

Katherine Dugas / Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station

Plus, diagnosing tick-borne diseases is tough enough, but Chronic author Dr. Steven Phillips points out some medical myths and misnomers making it harder.

What can help us better prevent, and treat, vector-borne illnesses?

GUESTS:

• Dr. Steven Phillips: Physician; Author, Chronic: The Hidden Cause of the Autoimmune Pandemic and How to Get Healthy Again
• Mary Beth Pfeiffer: Investigative Journalist; Author, Lyme: The First Epidemic of Climate Change
• Dr. Goudarz Molaei: Research Scientist, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Center; Director of the Tick and Tick-borne Diseases Surveillance Program, Center for Vector Biology and Zoonotic Diseases

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