Animals "are a traveling tick parade,"

From The Wall Street Journal ~ 

The Informed Patient

Warm Weather Means Ticks Will Be Out Early; A 'Horrific' Season for Lyme and Other Diseases

They can wait for months, clinging to the edge of a blade of grass or a bush, for the whiff of an animal's breath or vibration telling them a host approaches.

Showering or bathing quickly after being outdoors can also help wash off crawling ticks or make it easier to find them. What won't work: simply jumping in the pool or lake, because ticks can hide in bathing suits and don't quickly drown in water.  

"We haven't even begun to scratch the surface of the type of pathogens ticks can be harboring and transmitting," says Kristy K. Bradley, state epidemiologist and public health veterinarian for the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

Animals "are a traveling tick parade," Dr. Bradley adds, with pet dogs "bringing them into the home and onto furniture and carpets."

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Doctors told him he might have chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia. Depressed about his health, he began seeing a therapist who knew about the symptoms of Lyme and referred him to another physician. That doctor determined he had Lyme—and babesiosis, caused by a parasite that destroys red blood cells.