COLUMBUS, Ohio — A species of tick with the potential to kill livestock was found in Ohio.

What You Need To Know

  • The Asian longhorned tick is blamed for killing at least three cattle throughout our state

  • According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Asian longhorned tick was first reported in the United States in 2017

  • The ticks carry the pathogens Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Theileria orientalis

According to researchers at Ohio State University, "[the] tick arrived in Ohio in 2021 in such huge numbers that their feeding frenzy on a southeastern farm left three cattle dead of what researchers believe was severe blood loss."

However, Spectrum News 1 agriculture expert Andy Vance said so far, its presence is isolated.

"Some of those pathogens are transferred from the bug to the animal. And then that's actually what kills the animal. It's not the bite from the tick per se, it's the pathogens that the ticks carry to the animal, so it's a rare, fairly small number of animals that have been infected at this point," Vance said.

The bigger concern, he said, is that the insect is persistent.

"Researchers pointed out in their publication that it looks like these ticks are here to stay because of how they proliferate," he said. "They basically lay eggs, they reproduce asexually. [It's] harder to control that than it is with the normal reproductive methods of the tick."

Vance said researchers recommend early season control.

"Animals need to be treated. Insecticides, pesticides need to be used earlier on in the season," Vance said. "And then it's a lot of monitoring."

Experts at the university said the ticks do not seem to be a threat to human health.

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