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Verify: Are tick-borne diseases on the rise in Michigan?

We've told you for months this is supposed to be a bad year for the pests, but are tick-borne diseases on the rise in Michigan?

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Tick season is in full swing and their bite can make you sick.

We've told you for months this is supposed to be a bad year for the pests, but are tick-borne diseases on the rise in Michigan?

“There’s been a dramatic increase in ticks throughout the lower peninsula over the last 10 to 15 years,” said Howard Russell, an entomologist Michigan State University.

There’s an uptick in ticks.

“No one really knows, there’s no reason why,” Russell said.

The most common disease ticks carry is Lyme disease. There’s a couple hundred reported cases a year in the lower peninsula, which are most common in Western Michigan.

“All the way from Berrien County all the way up to Traverse City," Russell said.

But Lyme disease isn’t the only tick-borne illness across the state.

“Anaplasmosis and Ehrlichiosis are uncommon, only 4 to 6 cases are reported every year," Russell said. "And of course Rocky Mountain spotted fever also occurs in Michigan, but that’s only 2 or 3 cases a year."

And new report from the CDC found: “Tickborne diseases more than doubled in 13 years... Lyme disease accounted for 82% of all tickborne cases."

But cases of these other diseases also increased.

We can Verify with the increase in ticks comes the increase in tick borne diseases.

And Lyme disease isn't the only one on the rise.

“As ticks spread throughout Michigan and become more prevalent and more abundant, I think we can expect these other, more or less, rare tick diseases we have will also begin to increase,” Russell said.

To remove a tick, grab it where it's attached to your skin with tweezers and pull it off. Remember to keep an eye out for symptoms of a tick borne illness.

“Fever, rash, headache, muscle ache, nausea, joint pain, would be the serious ones you'd want to be aware of,” Russell said.

While ticks are normally found in parks and forests, Russell said there's not really a safe place anymore.

And they're out when it's more than 50 degrees outside.

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