The season of the ticks

COUNTY – Waupaca County residents are seeing a sharp rise in tick-borne diseases, according to the Department of Public Health (DPH).

Tick-borne illnesses were by far the most common communicable disease reported in Waupaca County in 2025, accounting for 212 of the county’s 684 reported cases and representing a 47% increase from the previous year, according to the Waupaca County DPH annual report.

Health Officer Jed Wohlt said during a recent Board of Health meeting that Waupaca County is among the top counties in the state for tick-borne illnesses. Wisconsin recorded a record 6,469 cases of Lyme disease in 2024 and has one of the highest rates of Lyme disease in the nation, according to the state Department of Health Services (DHS).

Lyme disease is a bacterial illness transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected deer tick, also known as the black-legged tick, according to DHS, which notes deer ticks are present in all counties in Wisconsin. It is a growing concern statewide, where reported cases have quadrupled over the past 20 years, according to DHS.

That trend may be driven by the prevalence of disease-carrying ticks. Marshfield Clinic Research Institute recently released data from its citizen science tick study that indicates 51% of the submitted ticks it tested in 2024 were found to carry the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. The testing also revealed that 9% of the ticks carried Anaplasmosis, 9% carried Babesiosis, and 14% carried multiple pathogens simultaneously.

Marshfield Clinic noted that attached ticks should be removed as soon as possible by using tweezers to grasp the tick close to the skin’s surface and pulling with steady pressure to avoid breaking off the mouthparts.

“Ticks may be small, but the illnesses they carry are not,” said Marshfield Clinic Research Institute senior vice president of research Jennifer Meece. “Knowing the symptoms of tickborne illnesses can mean the difference between early treatment and long-term health complications.”

Symptoms of illnesses resulting from a tick bite can include rash, fever, joint pain, and fatigue within several days to weeks.

“Testing is important, because early treatment is highly effective in preventing later stages of the disease from developing,” said Dr. Thomas Boyce, a pediatric infectious disease physician with Marshfield Clinic. “If you remove a deer tick that is attached and engorged, a single dose of an antibiotic (doxycycline) can reduce the risk of contracting Lyme disease ten-fold.”

To deal with the rising numbers, DPH ramped up its prevention efforts last year, distributing 1,212 tick prevention kits throughout Waupaca County. The kits contain a Tick Safety Guide, tweezers, an alcohol wipe, an insect repellent wipe, and an adhesive bandage. Hundreds of the kits were also made accessible through the county’s free public health vending machines.

Wohlt said DPH discontinued its free tick prevention kits this year because of local budget constraints and limited state funding. The state provides $4,700 for the county’s mandated communicable disease program, he said, and DPH had to redirect those funds to personnel costs.

“We don’t have funding for that anymore,” he said. “So that’s unfortunate. You know, campgrounds every year look forward to us being able to give them some resources, but we’re not going to be able to do that this year.”

Board of Health member Dr. Steven Goedderz, who is a family practice physician in New London, said he’s been seeing people coming in more frequently for tick bites this year, which he said may be tied to recent milder winters allowing more ticks to survive the season.

Goedderz and board member Joel Bartel each said they have a son who contracted Lyme disease. Bartel said at the meeting that he plans to draft a resolution requesting more state funding for the county’s communicable disease program.