4 worst ticks in Greenville, South Carolina: What to know about Lyme disease symptoms

Watch out when walking through tall blades of grass ― you don't want to get bitten by a tick.

These creepy crawlers can cause many diseases among those they hook themselves into. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ticks in the U.S. can transmit bacteria, viruses, and pathogens that lead to human illness through their feeding process.

When venturing into the great outdoors this summer, your best defense against tickborne illnesses is by reducing exposure and staying clear of areas where the big bellied arachnids may hide.

In South Carolina, there are four ticks that you should especially be aware of. Here are the worst tick types in the area, where they live, the diseases they transmit, and what they look like.

The American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis, D. similis)

∎ Location: These ticks are widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains and in limited areas west of the Rocky Mountains.

∎ Transmission: Francisella tularensis (tularemia) and Rickettsia rickettsii (Rocky Mountain spotted fever).

∎ Physical description: Large in size. Can be easily identified by their brown and red dotted bodies and elongated dorsal shields.

The blacklegged tick, aka deer tick (Ixodes scapularis)

∎ Location: Eastern U.S.

∎ Transmission: Borrelia burgdorferi and B. mayonii (which cause Lyme disease), Anaplasma phagocytophilum (anaplasmosis), B. miyamotoi disease (a form of relapsing fever), Ehrlichia muris eauclairensis (ehrlichiosis), Babesia microti (babesiosis), and Powassan virus (Powassan virus disease).

∎ Physical description: Dark reddish brown in color.

The Gulf Coast tick (Amblyomma maculatum)

∎ Location: Primarily found in Southeastern U.S. Focal populations live in northeastern, midwestern, and southeastern U.S.

∎ Transmission: R. parkeri (R. parkeri rickettsiosis), a form of spotted fever.

∎ Physical description: Adult males are reddish brown with thin white markings in a web-like formation on their entire body. Adult females have bright, white markings on the dorsal shield.

The Lone Star tick (Amblyomma americanum)

∎ Location: Eastern U.S. Commonly found in the south.

∎ Transmission: Ehrlichia chaffeensis and E. ewingii (which cause human ehrlichiosis), Francisella tularensis (tularemia), Heartland virus (Heartland virus disease), Bourbon virus (Bourbon virus disease), and Southern tick-associated rash illness (STARI).

∎ Physical description: Reddish brown oval bodies that turn grey when engorged. Females have a silvery or whitish spot on their back while males have several horseshoe-shaped whitish spots on their backs.

Symptoms of tickborne illness

The most common tickborne disease symptoms are outlined by the CDC. Seek medical attention right away if you experience the following:

∎ Fever/chills: All tickborne diseases cause fever.

∎ Aches and pains: Headache, fatigue, and muscle pains. Lyme disease may also include joint pain.

∎ Rash: Distinctive rashes can be caused by Lyme disease, Southern tick associated rash illness (STARI), Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF), ehrlichiosis, and tularemia.

Tick bite prevention

Here is how to prevent tick bites, according to the CDC:

∎ Avoid brushy and wooded areas with leaf litter and tall grass. Walk in the center of trails.

∎ Animals can carry ticks. After walking your dog outside, closely inspect it for potential ticks.

∎ After venturing outdoors, carefully examine your clothing and those of family members. If you find a tick on clothing, tumble dry clothes on high heat for 10 minutes to kill them. Additional wash times may be needed for damp clothes. Cold and medium temperatures will not kill ticks.

∎ The risk of Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases can be reduced by showering within two hours of coming indoors.

∎ Check your body in the following areas for ticks: around the waist, back of the knees, between the legs, in and around the ears, in and around the hair, inside the belly button, and under the arms.

∎ Apply pesticide outdoors to reduce the number of ticks in your backyard.

∎ To create a tick-safe zone to reduce blacklegged ticks in the yard: Clear tall brush and grass around the home and at the edge of lawns. Mow the lawn frequently and remove leaf litter. Keep decks, playground equipment, and patios away from trees and yard edges. Build a fence to deter animals that may be carrying ticks from entering your backyard. To further discourage rodents, stack wood in a dry area. Remove items that may give ticks a place to hide such as garbage, old furniture, and mattresses.

∎ Visit the CDC's page, What to Do After a Tick Bite, to learn how to carefully remove a tick from the body.

Nina Tran covers trending topics. Reach her via email at ntran@gannett.com