Ticks Suck

It used to be that you could go for a walk in the woods and not have to deal with ticks. Occasionally, you'd get a dog tick, but a dollop of Vaseline or a pair of tweezers solved the problem right quick. You'd hear stuff about Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, but no one I knew ever got it. These days, I'm using DEET and Permethrin on my clothes, but I'm still having problems with ticks. Last night, I found one crawling on me after going on a hike with Craig, so I went into the bathroom and checked myself out. I had another attached on my shoulder and another attached on my armpit.

The thing is, the ticks are so small (Deer ticks) that they can't easily be spotted. And ticks have a natural anesthetic, so you can't feel them attacking you. Last year, I got Lyme. And the tick bites I got yesterday are swelling up. I'm pretty sure I'll get the bullseye rash and have to go in to the Walk-In Medical place to get another 4-week supply of Doxycycline.

When I was a kid romping around in the woods, this was never a widespread worry. What changed between the 70s and 80s and today that made this such a huge problem?