Quite a question that popped into our head about this parasite. This raises so many ifs and buts surrounding this question on the internet. 

Ticks are these small blood-sucking parasitic insects. They have different sizes based on their sex, age, species, and fullness. They can be big as a pencil eraser or tiny as the tip of the needle. With eight legs, these bugs are arachnids which means that they are related to spiders. 

As these blood-sucking bugs grow with time, they can also grow into the size of a marble. After some days when a tick is done sucking on its host’s blood, they turn into a greenish-blue color. 

Where Do Ticks Bite Humans?

According to the Center Of Disease Control And Prevention, ticks prefer areas that are soft, warm, and moist. So on a human body, they would likely go for;

  • Groin 
  • Armpit
  • Hair
  • Back of knees
  • Around waist
  • Inside belly button
  • Around and inside of ears

When a tick gets attached to your body it looks for a desirable spot and starts sucking blood. Unlike the other bugs that you may encounter, ticks tend to remain on your body. If it bites you you can likely locate it easily on your body. 

How To Prevent Infections From Ticks?

Here are some of the tips you can use to prevent any tick bites on your body;

  • Try to wear a long sleeve shirt of full legged pants when you are walking in a grassy area where ticks are most likely to be found. 
  • Take a walk on the center of the trails.
  • Like mosquito repellents, you can use tick repellents that are 20 percent DEET you can buy them online or from your nearby drug store. 
  • When you get home after being outdoors for a long time, take shower and wear clean clothes.
  • Closely check your tick prone areas on the body.

It usually takes almost 24 hours for a person to get affected by a tick bite. So the moment you see a tick, just remove it quickly. 

What If There Are No More Ticks?

According to Harvard Health Publishing, the increase in climate crises all over the world has also increased the tick season. These parasites are more abundant in fall and spring. 

This increase in tick population can cause a spike in Lyme disease and you would be using repellent every now and then. 

The alternate scenario that one might think of is, what if ticks went extinct?

According to medical studies ticks are responsible for like 100,000 diseases and are likely to be second in place to mosquitoes. So if the extinction of these bugs becomes real, we’re talking 100,000 diseases just diminishing just like that. 

According to Live Science, this kind of drop-in disease can cause the elimination of global poverty and no overpopulation. So fewer ticks would mean fewer diseases but that would come with a cost. 

The natural death of humans would be reduced and the population expansion would come at a hefty price. This would also create abundance in the deer population. According to NBC, the deer population in the United States has increased by more than 30 million in just the last 100 years. 

As the deers would rule the forests, as a dominating species they would determine the survival of other wildlife as well. 

According to the BBC, there would be a decline in trees and the natural habitats of other animals. With forests having fewer trees there would be nothing to take in rain and this would likely affect the ocean levels as well. 

With marine habitats being destroyed and coral reefs being smothered, our planet would become a thin shell in its own existence. 

Can Ticks Reduce Diseases?

Ticks might become a source of reducing diseases that you might experience from the abundance of mice around. The drastic change in the ecosystem caused by ticks gone can create mice contaminating everything. 

Ticks are not anyone’s favorite, to be honest, but with the extinction, there won’t be any forest to tick off. The overpopulation of deers would have severe side effects like killing our forests. 

The absence of forest trees would be the cause of our oceans overflowing affecting marine life as well. The oceans, which are also guarding marine life, would be the cause of marine creatures going extinct by 25 percent. The extinction would take place in the absence of coral reefs. 

This chaos would be the cause of rodents spreading diseases. If ticks are bad, rodents are not good news either in a disturbed ecosystem. 

So you can always avoid ticks by using repellents and being careful while you go outside. Extinction level elimination of this bug would definitely wreak havoc on the entire planet and for the human population as well. 

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