Three ticks submitted last month to a state facility via the New Canaan Health Department tested positive for Lyme disease, officials say.
In all, 13 ticks were submitted in March to the New Haven-based Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, according to New Canaan Health Director Amy Lehaney.
“The ticks are back,” Lehaney told members of the Health & Human Services Commission during their regular meeting, held Tuesday at Town Hall and via videoconference. “So make sure you’re doing your tick check. It was a long cold winter and apparently it has ended. So definitely do your tick checks and we’re here to send up any ticks that you may pull off of you.”
Results are not yet back from CAES on five ticks submitted from New Canaan, Lehaney said in a report to the Commission.
Typically, results take a bit longer as the weather warms and more ticks come in, she said. What was a week turnaround time for the CAES is now about two weeks, she said.
Of 104 ticks submitted from New Canaan in 2025, state records show, 34 tested positive for the spirochete bacterium that causes Lyme.
According to the CAES, “In Connecticut, the number of reported Lyme disease cases steadily increased from a few hundred in the mid- to late-1980s to around 3,000 annually.”
Most of those infected with Lyme will develop a red rash, typically within eight or nine days of the tick bite, according to the CAES. “Mild nonspecific, flu-like symptoms may be associated with the rash,” though the “course and severity of Lyme disease is variable.”
Tick-borne diseases are scary. But there are many strategies to minimize risk. Please do not try to reduce your risk by spraying your property with pesticides (from Mosquito Joe, Mosquito Squad, your landscaper, or anyone else). This just kills pollinators and does nothing to protect you or your family against tick-borne pathogens. If you’re worried, wear long pants and sleeves when you’re outside and spray your walking-around-in-the-woods pants with permethrin.
That is not what the public-health guidance says. CDC says outdoor pesticides can reduce the number of ticks in treated areas of your yard, but you should not rely on spraying alone to reduce infection risk. In other words: spraying can lower tick numbers, but it is not a magic force field. Saying it does nothing is not correct.
No need for semantics. Whatever minimal reduction in one’s personal risk might result from spraying your property with chemicals is far outweighed by the harm caused for everyone else by killing bees and butterflies.
Excellent advice.
What John said above. And what has worked for me is tucking my pants into my socks. Follow up by washing those clothes asap. With all these precautions, I’ve still had 3 tick bites over the years. Luckily, I’ve found them soon enough and have not contracted any illness.
According to my doctor, an engorged tick found within 36 hours is usually harmless. But to be safe, check with your doctor.