Spring is here, which brings a lot of great opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts throughout Minnesota. Of course, the warmer temperatures also bring back outdoor pests people are all too familiar with.
Mosquitoes will be everywhere before we know it, but ticks are out there now. The Minnesota Department of Health says that ticks in Minnesota, including blacklegged ticks (deer ticks) and American dog ticks (wood ticks), are most active during the spring and fall when temperatures are above freezing.
The return of ticks means the return of the threat of tick-borne diseases. Lyme disease, a potentially serious bacterial infection caused by the bite of an infected deer tick, is the most common tick-borne disease in Minnesota, but there’s another threat that has been on the rise, and it can pose an even bigger health risk.
Cases Of Deadly Powassan Virus Rising Into 2025
Like Lyme disease, Powassan virus is spread by the blacklegged tick (deer tick), as well as by groundhog ticks and squirrel ticks, but these latter two rarely bite humans…