Articles
Guide to different tick species and the diseases they carry
Content
Black-legged tick or deer tick
Lone Star tick
Alpha-gal syndrome and the Lone Star tick
American dog tick
Western black-legged tick
Rocky Mountain wood tick
Brown dog tick
Gulf Coast tick
Asian longhorned tick
Soft ticks
Ticks and where to find them
Preventing tick bites
Black-legged tick or deer tick
Lone Star tick
Alpha-gal syndrome and the Lone Star tick
American dog tick
Western black-legged tick
Rocky Mountain wood tick
Brown dog tick
Gulf Coast tick
Asian longhorned tick
Soft ticks
Ticks and where to find them
Preventing tick bites
Soft ticks
Soft ticks are a different type of tick from the black-legged tick or Lone Star tick. Soft ticks have soft, leathery bodies and bite for only short periods of time.
Soft ticks mainly bite rodents. But soft ticks also bite humans if they are nearby. Bites often happen when a person sleeps in a shelter or cabin where rodents have made nests.
One example of a soft tick is Ornithodoros hermsi. It is found at higher altitudes in the Western U.S. This tick, as well as other soft ticks, can spread borrelia bacteria to hosts and cause tick-borne relapsing fever.
