Some ticks can survive from 1 to 3 weeks on home flooring

An adult male Gulf Coast tick.
Photo Credit: CDC Public Health Image Library

Scientific Frontline: "At a Glance" Summary: Tick Survival on Home Flooring

• Main Discovery: Two species of ticks, the lone star and Gulf Coast tick, can survive indoors for at least one week and up to three weeks on common hard-surface and carpeted home flooring.
• Methodology: Researchers monitored 90 unfed adult ticks per species across five home flooring types, including tile, wood, vinyl, short-pile carpet, and long-pile carpet. The subjects were individually isolated under cups and observed daily over three rounds of experiments to track survival times against control groups housed in optimal laboratory conditions.
• Key Data: Gulf Coast ticks demonstrated an average survival time of 18 days, reaching a maximum of 25 days on vinyl flooring. Lone star ticks survived an average of 11 days, with their longest survival period reaching nearly 15 days on long-pile carpet.
• Significance: This research offers the first empirical evidence that hitchhiking ticks do not immediately die from indoor desiccation, indicating they remain a viable vector for transmitting diseases like ehrlichiosis and spotted fever within a residential environment.
• Future Application: These findings will be utilized to update public health guidelines, emphasizing the necessity of rigorous indoor tick checks, the immediate heat-treatment of exposed clothing, and the consistent application of preventatives on household pets.
• Branch of Science: Entomology, Public Health, Veterinary Preventive Medicine.

An adult female lone star tick on a blade of grass.
Photo Credit: CDC Public Health Image Library

It’s fairly common for members of the public to ask bug experts if ticks that hitchhike into a house on people or dogs can actually survive indoors for any length of time.

A new study provides the first scientific evidence that the answer is yes, showing that two species of ticks can live at least one week, and up to about three weeks, on hard-surface and carpeted floors. 

The Ohio State University study focused on lone star and Gulf Coast ticks, both of which are capable of transmitting pathogens that can make people and animals sick. Survival rates of each species were assessed in five types of common home flooring: tile, wood, vinyl, and short-pile and shag-like carpet. 

Overall, Gulf Coast ticks survived for significantly longer periods of time than lone star ticks, but in an unexpected finding, lone star ticks lived longer overall in long-pile carpet. 

“Ticks can pose a risk even in the places you least expect, such as your house,” said first author Afsoon Sabet, a PhD student in entomology at Ohio State. 

The findings underscore the necessity of taking protective measures to prevent tick bites, the researchers say. These include using tick prevention products for people and pets and, once inside, thoroughly checking an animal for ticks with a brush or a lint roller and immediately bagging clothes or putting them in the dryer. 

“The ultimate goal from a public health perspective is to reinforce that ticks brought into the home on pets or people could be a risk, and hopefully having some data around that will compel people to say, ‘OK, doing tick checks is really important,’” said co-senior author Risa Pesapane, associate professor of veterinary preventive medicine at Ohio State.   

“That way you’re not releasing ticks into your home environment where you’re relaxed and comfortable, and most definitely not thinking about tick prevention.” 

Total reported tick-borne disease cases in the United States increased by 40% from 2019 to 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The ticks in the study, Gulf Coast (Amblyomma maculatum) and lone star (Amblyomma americanum) ticks, are commonly found in the eastern U.S. and feed on a variety of birds and mammals. Gulf Coast ticks can transmit several spotted fever diseases, and lone star ticks can transmit ehrlichiosis. In addition, a compound in lone star tick saliva can induce alpha-gal syndrome, a potentially life-threatening allergy to a molecule in red meat and other mammal products. 

For the study, Sabet tested the survival time of 90 ticks per species placed in three rounds of experiments on each of the five floor types. Ticks were individually covered with a cup so they couldn’t escape, but they could move around. Two rounds of the experiments compared survival to control ticks kept in a growth chamber to confirm experimental tick deaths were related to the flooring conditions. 

In nature, ticks feed once per life cycle. Ticks in the experiments were adults that had not yet fed. 

“Generally, what we’re talking about here is hitchhiking ticks that have come in on clothes or pets that have not yet bitten and are actively looking for a host,” said Pesapane, who also has a faculty appointment in Ohio State’s School of Environment and Natural Resources. “They would’ve been looking for a host to feed from in someone’s home.” 

Sabet monitored the ticks daily, with a few exceptions, completing over 4,600 individual observations. 

The average overall survival time of Gulf Coast ticks was about 18 days, and for lone star ticks, 11 days. The longest survival time for Gulf Coast ticks was an average of 25 days on vinyl and the shortest, 10 days on long-pile carpet. Average survival time of lone star ticks was the longest, almost 15 days, on long-pile carpet and shortest on tile – about seven days. 

The cause of death was presumed to be desiccation, or loss of moisture. Meanwhile, some of the control ticks kept at ideal temperatures and humidity levels in the lab survived for more than a year. 

“The tick life cycle is usually at least two years, typically. And the longevity of that tick is based on its ability to maintain moisture,” Pesapane said. “And certainly, the conditions in a home are desiccating conditions, but this shows that ticks are not going to die immediately. 

“Pinpointing exactly how long a tick might survive in a home is really difficult because people’s homes are going to vary in their environmental conditions. But for the first time, this study puts some guardrails on that estimate, and it shows us that ticks can survive for at least a week.” 

Additional information: Samuel Ward, assistant professor of entomology at Ohio State, was an additional co-senior author of the study.

Funding: This work was supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Published in journal: Journal of Vector Ecology

Title: Effect of floor type on survival of Amblyomma maculatum and Amblyomma americanum (Acari: Ixodidae)

Authors: Afsoon Sabet, Risa Pesapane, and Samuel F. Ward

Source/Credit: Ohio State University | Emily Caldwell

Reference Number: ent032726_01

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