Photo from the Virginia Department of HealthSummer means tick season in Virginia and June is the most common month for tick related illnesses. July is second.
Last year, the commonwealth saw the highest number of Lyme disease cases. Last year, Virginia had 1,245 cases of Lyme disease, which is significantly higher than years in the past.
Tick related illnesses usually go up in the summer, which has a lot to do with a tick's life cycle. The ones that can transmit the illnesses are in the highest numbers. They thrive in tall wooded areas; grassy places are also a hot spot.
Doctor Lillian Peake, with the Thomas Jefferson Health District, says if you are in areas like this, be sure to check yourself for ticks when you get home. If you find one, use tweezers to remove it, grabbing it by the head, not the body.
"You can have actually some of the disease organisms in the body so if you squeeze it you could actually be squeezing those organisms into yourself," she explained.
Another reason you do not want to squeeze the tick's body, you can actually break off its head, leaving parts of the tick in your skin, leading to irritation.
Ticks carry a number of different illnesses. In central Virginia, Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever are the most common.
Click here for more information on ticks in Virginia.
