Ticked off

A tick climbs on a head of grass in a field near Elkton in rural western Oregon on Tuesday, June 30, 2020. Ticks are external parasites, living by feeding on the blood of mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles. Ticks transmit a number of infections caused by pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, and protozoa.  Some of the diseases known to be transmitted by ticks include typhus, African tick bite fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Flinders Island spotted fever, Lyme disease, Colorado tick fever, Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever, tick-borne meningoencephalitis and many others.