You don’t usually hear about the dangers of ticks and Lyme disease during the winter when  it’s cold outside, but in the past few weeks we’ve had quite a few warmer days and nights. Some residents say they’ve already had encounters with the pests, this year.

 

At UPMC Altoona’s Emergency Department, Chairman Dr. Matthew Bouchard says, “We’ve seen some cases of The ticks that transmit Lyme disease tend to be more active from May, June and July, and they tend to be very small ticks, but as the weather gets warmer earlier, we can see those types of ticks earlier in the season and we have seen some of that.”

 

Dr. Bouchard says if you’ve just been outside and see a tick when you come in, remove it, you’ll be fine. A tick needs to be on your body at least 24 hours in order to transmit Lyme disease.