Veterinary students are working to figure out why a tick commonly found in the south is now moving into Michigan.
"Eight legs, looks like the head and the legs are pretty long" said Meredith Rice as she looks through a microscope. "Right on the back there, is a large shiny spot and that's usually indicative of the lone star tick."
A lone star tick is usually found in Georgia, Florida, and Arkansas.
Researchers believe the ticks attach it's self onto birds as they're migrating up North. Then once they're in Michigan, they lay and wait in tall grass fields before they attach onto you.
If they latch onto you, you might end up allergic to meat.
"They actually regurgitate materials from their guts into our skin and that causes the exposure," explains Dr. Ned Walker, MSU professor of Entomology. "Then some people can develop, a hyper sensitivity to that exposure and then when you eat meat later that contains that same chemical then you have this allergic reaction."
The reaction starts when the tick feeds on blood from an animal, like a cow, then passes that chemical exposure onto people.
"You have a past exposure and then your body reacts, over reacts really to the re-exposure to that chemical," Dr. Walker said.
He and students like Meredith are trying to figure out if they're here to stay.
"I'll be looking at if we are finding lone star ticks of it's just mainly the ixodes scapularis, which are the black ticks, those are what we normally see," Meredith said. "So I'll be curious to see if we do see more of the lone stars."
You can protect yourself from ticks by wearing insect repellent with deet. You should also wear long sleeves and pants if you'll be in the woods.
Experts suggest tucking your pant legs into your socks. You should also check your entire body for ticks before going inside your home.
The chances of getting a disease from one is greatly reduced if you remove them quickly.
