COLUMBUS, Ohio — A big warm-up is on the way Wednesday and you may be making any excuse to get outside to enjoy it.
Even this time of year you need to be on the lookout for ticks.
Experts say they are active on unseasonably warm days. And a type that carries Lyme disease is expanding across the state. Last year was a record year for new cases of the disease.
"Believe it or not, you can encounter a tick just about any day that you are outside here in Ohio,” said Timothy McDermott, an agriculture and natural resources educator.
Experts say there's one particular tick of concern -- the blacklegged tick -- that can be active any time temperatures are above freezing.
According to the Ohio Department of Health, Lyme Disease cases are increasing across the state as the blacklegged tick population expands.
And we saw a record number of cases last year -- 582. Compare that to 67 -- ten years ago.
We asked -- is it because we're getting better at diagnosing them? Or is it because the ticks are expanding?
“It’s a little bit of all of that,” said McDermott. “We are getting better at our diagnostics, and we have better tests now than we had 10 years ago."
But those 582 cases reported last year might not be the full picture.
"The CDC is estimating that we are underreporting or undercounting the actual number of cases by a factor of 10. So when we see that we have 500 confirmed cases, the suspicion that would be that here in Ohio, we had 5,000 cases last year,” said McDermott.
Experts say in addition to those tick checks, wear light-colored clothes so it's easier to see them. And, talk to your vet about prevention efforts for your pets.
"We've got some options out there,” said Dr. Robert Knapp, owner of Knapp Veterinary Hospital in Columbus. “One, they are very convenient and easy to use and two- ridiculously safe."
According to the Ohio Department of Health, there have been 29 cases of Lyme disease reported in the state so far this year.