New Tick May Mean New Danger

An invasive new tick is spreading in the U.S.

The Asian long-horned tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis is the first new tick to show up in the US in the last 50 years. It is spreading rapidly, and has already been found in seven states and in the heavily populated suburbs of New York City.

Though the tick has not yet been found carrying diseases in the U.S., in Asia the species carries a virus that kills 15 percent of its victims.

The New York Time reports that the tick is known in Australia as a bush tick and in New Zealand as a cattle tick and that "long-horned ticks can multiply rapidly and suck so much blood from a young animal that it dies. The ticks bloat up like fat raisins until their tiny legs are barely able to support them."

Though the ticks can carry a number of diseases, the biggest threat is a phlebovirus that causes S.F.T.S. which stands for "severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome" in which abnormally low levels of blood platelets triggers internal bleeding and organ failure.