(Radio Iowa) – Labor Day marks what many Iowans consider the end of summer, but it’s not the end of our problems associated with ticks. The region has seen a rise in cases of Lyme disease and other ailments ticks carry, which one expert blames on warmer winters which allow millions of the tiny insects to survive and thrive.

“Tick season essentially now is moving year-round,” according to Megan Meller, an infection preventionist at Emplify Health by Gundersen. She says Iowans should do tick checks during every month of the year. There are more than a dozen species of ticks in Iowa. The three most common are deer ticks, dog ticks and lone star ticks. Meller says some are easier to spot than others.

“If we’re lucky, they’re large and we can find them right away but some of them are really tiny, the size of a dot at the end of a sentence, and if you overlook those, they can also cause an infection,” Meller says. “It’s really important to not just do a thorough tick check on yourself and on your pets and children, but to also take additional preventative measures.” Those measures include wearing long pants and long sleeves.

“Wearing bug spray when you’re outside that repels ticks. It’s closing up your sock line. That’s an easy way for ticks to get up, too. It’s wearing long socks over your pants,” she says. “It’s just being really mindful that there are also hidden dangers lurking out there.”

There’s another tick to be watchful for, especially if you raise livestock. The Asian longhorned tick was found in southeast Iowa in June. It apparently doesn’t have a taste for human blood, but can be quite harmful for animals, including cattle, horses, sheep and deer.

Emplify Health by Gundersen has clinics in Calmar, Decorah, Fayette, Lansing, Postville and Waukon, and a hospital in West Union.