Tick season is becoming a year-round threat in Iowa

Labor Day marks what many Iowans consider the end of summer, but it’s not the end of our problems associated with ticks.

The region has seen a rise in cases of Lyme disease and other ailments ticks carry, which one expert blames on warmer winters which allow millions of the tiny insects to survive and thrive.

“Tick season essentially now is moving year-round,” according to Megan Meller, an infection preventionist at Emplify Health by Gundersen .

Megan Meller (Emplify Health by Gundersen photo)

She says Iowans should do tick checks during every month of the year. There are more than a dozen species of ticks in Iowa. The three most common are deer ticks, dog ticks and lone star ticks. Meller says some are easier to spot than others.

“If we’re lucky, they’re large and we can find them