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Lone star ticks appear in Connecticut

HAMDEN – Are you checking your pets for ticks these days? That’s the right thing to do, according to Dr. Nicole Kennedy, a veterinarian at Central Hospita...

HAMDEN - Are you checking your pets for ticks these days? That’s the right thing to do, according to Dr. Nicole Kennedy, a veterinarian at Central Hospital for Veterinary Medicine.

"You want to make sure you’re taking precautions for you and your pet to make sure you’re not getting essentially exposed to them,” she said.

Because now the lone star tick has been seen around these here parts.

“It has a star on its back, and so that’s actually why it is called a lone star tick, because it looks like the lone star symbol,” said Kennedy.

The new tick moves fast - up to 3 times faster than other ticks – and they travel in swarms.

Like other ticks, these ticks are known to carry ehrlichiosis,  a major tick-bourne disease that leads to bacterial infections – but has not led to Lyme disease.

If you want to stop the lone star tick from entering your house, you have to do the same things you do for other ticks: check for them often and use preventive medicine.

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