More than 8,400 cases of Lyme disease were confirmed in Pennsylvania last year. That’s the most in the nation. In fact, Pennsylvania has had more Lyme disease cases than any other state in 11 out of the last 12 years.

The disease is spread by the black-legged or deer tick.

A recent report in SpotlightPA suggested one of the reasons Pennsylvania has more Lyme disease is development and the loss of forest land.

Marley Parish is the Rural Affairs Reporter for Spotlight PA and was on The Spark Monday,"Pennsylvania happens to be in a situation where we have a lot of forest land. And the black-legged tick, also called the deer tick, loves forest. It thrives in forests, which have a lot of host options for them -- deer, mice, birds, raccoons, chipmunks, sometimes humans. But something that Pennsylvania has been seeing is its forest land declining for development, typically commercial residential development. Whenever that happens, there are fewer and fewer hosts for ticks. So they are kind of forced to select what they interact with. But that's something that Pennsylvania has been seeing. Since 2019, there's been about 3 million acres of forest land that have declined, mostly for those developments"

Parish reported that a Penn State entomologist she spoke with for her story pointed out that ticks don't move once a forested area is cleared -- they adapt, staying in areas that were once forests but are now housing developments or shopping centers.

A tick researcher told Parish that half of tick bites in Pennsylvania occur in backyards.

Parish quoted her sources as saying development won't stop or slow down because there may be more tick bites or Lyme disease, so it's up to homeowners and Pennsylvanians overall to be aware of ticks and take precautions to protect themselves and pets from tick bites.

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