Is There Lyme in Indiana?
Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the U.S which is predominantly acquired through the bite of the blacklegged (aka “deer”) tick. The CDC estimates that approximately 476,000 Americans have been diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease annually over the past decade, but less than a tenth of these cases are officially reported. The risk of contracting Lyme disease needs to be taken seriously.
While Lyme disease was once only thought of as an East coast problem, it is now documented in all 50 US states. Dr. Thomas Mather–professor of Public Health Entomology at the University of Rhode Island, Director of URI’s Tick Encounter Resource Center and one of the nation’s leading tick experts–states that “there are simply more ticks in more places” with the blacklegged tick population spanning the entire U.S. He also states that blacklegged ticks have spread from the woodland habitat into urban and suburban neighborhoods.
5So, what about the risk of contracting Lyme disease in Indiana?
In Indiana, estimating the true incidence of Lyme disease or Lyme infected blacklegged ticks is challenging with contributing factors including the lack of tick surveillance data, under reported Lyme data, and less than ideal understanding about ticks/tick-borne illnesses among the healthcare community at large.
Locally, a NPR article published in 2023 – “Lack of data, info leaves Indiana doctors unprepared for more tick diseases” – concluded, “All this means is: there is a big lack of data out there. And without data and information, doctors can’t make informed decisions for their patients.” Reporting and collecting data is complex and tick surveillance as a means to collect data is a labor-intensive and costly endeavor. But according to the article, researchers at Purdue, Indiana University and Notre Dame are all working to track how ticks and their diseases move across the state of Indiana.
While surveillance data on Indiana blacklegged ticks is limited, there is consensus among entomologists that overall tick populations are increasing throughout the state, new hard ticks species are emerging, and Lyme-carrying blacklegged ticks are populating across all counties.
There is also other collaborating scientific data (ie. Lyme disease data collected on dogs) that confirms Lyme is not only present in Indiana but also an increasing risk to Hoosiers with each year. The independent Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC) provides monthly numbers for canines testing positive for Lyme disease as well as other co-infections of Ehrlichiosis and Anaplasmosis. Of the 339,364 dogs tested in 2025, 15,551 tested positive for Lyme which is 1:20 dogs.
Another data point that Lyme disease is present in Indiana are the increasing anecdotal reports from Hoosiers who work, play and live in tick habitat. Long-term residents are reporting an alarming increase of overall tick encounters especially with the Lone star and blacklegged tick.
Residents are also reporting a general lack of preparedness by the healthcare community regarding ticks and tick-borne illnesses. Even after being in tick habitat, removing an embedded tick, and experiencing signs and symptoms associated with an acute infection, Hoosiers’ concerns are frequently dismissed by their healthcare provider. Most providers are simply unaware or unconvinced that Lyme disease is in Indiana; simply put, if you don’t think Lyme disease is here in Indiana, then you’re not looking for it as a possible source of a patient’s symptoms.
Additionally, providers may not have previously encountered Lyme disease and therefore may be only generally familiar with the signs and symptoms associated with it. They may be unaware that an expanding classic bulls-eye rash is diagnostic for Lyme disease or that a Lyme EM rash may take on various forms and might not look the same for every case. Additionally, multiple studies have reported that only between 35-50% of those diagnosed with Lyme disease ever even recall any form of rash. All these issues and many more are obstacles to both a Lyme disease diagnosis and data collection of Lyme cases.
Hoosiers who work, live and play in tick habitat can indeed be at risk of contracting Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses and should practice tick prevention strategies.
Lyme Awareness in Indiana
Where Do Ticks Live?
Test your knowledge by selecting your answers below.
Types of Ticks in Indiana
Up until recently, there were only three hard tick species which presented a danger to human health in Indiana–the blacklegged tick, American dog tick, and the lone star tick. These ticks are established and as with all ticks, they each spread their own diseases and viruses.
However, recently, two more hard tick species have been found in multiple southern Indiana counties –the Gulf coast tick and the Asian longhorn tick.
As different ticks transmit different diseases, it is important to know what tick(s) one may have encountered. However, as both animals and people may encounter different ticks at different stages and some are engorged, the tick’s appearance will change and identifying the type of tick may be challenging.
The Blacklegged Tick
The Lone Star Tick
The American Dog Tick
The Gulf Coast Tick
The Asian Longhorned Tick
Visit our Found a Tick page to learn more about a free tick identification resource.
Remember that the best way to avoid any tick-borne illness is simply to not get a tick bite. Visit our Before You Go Outdoors prevention page to learn more about avoiding tick habitat and wearing tick-repellent permethrin treated clothing.
The Blacklegged Tick
- Lyme disease
- Human anaplasmosis
- Babesiosis
- Powassan virus
According to Purdue University’s Medical Entomology, the first in-state specimen of this tick was discovered (in the modern era) in northwestern Indiana in 1987. Since then, its habitat has expanded through both:
- Reproduction – a female will lay upwards of 3,000 eggs at the end of her two to three-year lifespan.
- An extremely wide range of hosts – 57 species of birds, 41 species of mammals, and 11 species of lizards.
So, while its population is still most abundant in northwestern, western, central, and southern Indiana, blacklegged ticks have been found in almost every Indiana county.
Hoosiers can encounter adult ticks when they are active October-May as long as the daytime temperature remains above freezing and there is snow thaw. They may be found questing about on the tips of branches of low growing shrubs around knee-height waiting for large hosts like deer and the casual walker. Males are not a threat to transmitting infections.
And of all these stages, the nymphal stage tick is the most dangerous to humans, mainly because the nymph tick is roughly the size of a poppy seed. So, a person will rarely detect it until the tick has attached and fed on the human’s blood – which means the tick has already likely transmitted Lyme or another disease to the person.
For a quick reference ID card for identifying the blacklegged tick, the lone star tick, and the American dog tick click here.
To learn more about how ticks find their hosts and when they are most active, click here.
For signs/symptoms, visit our Lyme disease signs/symptoms page.
For more information about various tips and strategies for preventing tick bites, visit our Prevention page.
The Lone Star Tick
The lone star tick is the second most commonly encountered tick by humans, coming in right behind the American dog tick.
While Hoosiers could encounter the lone star tick in any suitable habitat in the state, it is most typically found in the damp wooded
areas in southern half of Indiana.
Unlike the blacklegged tick which is very small and easy to overlook, the lone star tick is medium in size and easier to spot.
Lone star ticks have been linked to the spread of:
- Tick paralysis (adult female stage only)
- Ehrlichiosis
- Southern tick-associated rash illness (STARI)
- Alpha-gal syndrome (which causes an allergic reaction to mammal products and is sometimes anaphylaxis)
While the cause of STARI is unknown, the rash is very similar to a Lyme disease rash characterized by a red, expanding lesion around the bite. There is suspect that this tick could be carriers of Lyme disease itself as well as Rocky Mountain Spotted and tularemia. However, if this is the case, the prevalence of these vector-borne illnesses is quite insignificant at this time.
The species gets its name from the pearl-colored, vaguely star-shaped marking on her back. Otherwise, the adult female is a red-brown color and has longer mouthparts than the male, which are barbed and penetrate deeply into the skin of the host.
Adult males of the species have a generally darker appearance than the adult females, a mixture of red-brown with the occasional black patches. Larval and nymphal lone star ticks are typically lighter in color than the adults, with the larvae being the lightest of the stages, while the nymph’s color darkens as it develops.
For a quick reference ID card for identifying the blacklegged tick, the lone star tick, and the American dog tick, click here.
To learn more about how ticks find their hosts and when they are most active, click here.
For more information about various tips and strategies for preventing tick bites, visit our Prevention page.
The American Dog Tick
The American dog tick can be found in every county in Indiana – which is partly what makes it the most encountered tick that is most commonly found on humans and dogs in the state. However, they are the least likely to bite humans and transmit any disease!
Perhaps it is also found most often because it is larger than the other two types of ticks we are looking at – nearly twice the size of the blacklegged tick! Considering its frequency, the percentage of ticks carrying infection is relatively low compared to blacklegged ticks.
- Tick paralysis
- Rocky Mountain spotted fever
- Tularemia
- Anaplasmosis
The adult American dog tick has a cream/gray and brown body – the males with a pattern, the females with a simpler, two-tone appearance – while the larva and nymph ticks are typically all brown. The mouthparts for American dog ticks are typically short at all stages of development.
They are primarily found on trails, in fields, or on walkways; rarely in the deep woods.
For a quick reference ID card for identifying the blacklegged tick, the lone star tick, and the American dog tick, click here.
To learn more about how ticks find their hosts and when they are most active, click here.
For more information about various tips and strategies for preventing tick bites, visit our Prevention page.
The Gulf Coast Tick
Photo courtesy of Indiana Department of Health
For a quick reference ID card for identifying the blacklegged tick, the lone star tick, and the American dog tick, click here.
For more information about various tips and strategies for preventing tick bites, visit our Prevention page.
The Asian Longhorned Tick
The Asian longhorn tick is primarily a threat to livestock like cattle. According to the IDOH, these ticks can carry pathogens like the Heartland and Powassan viruses and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, yet there is no evidence that they have transmitted these pathogens to people in the US at this time.
For a quick reference ID card for identifying the blacklegged tick, the lone star tick, and the American dog tick, click here.
For more information about various tips and strategies for preventing tick bites, visit our Prevention page.
While both nymphs and adult blacklegged ticks can carry Lyme disease as well as other pathogens, the majority of people contracting Lyme disease come from the Lyme carrying nymph ticks. These ticks are almost invisible to the naked eye (the size of a poppy seed). Being rarely detected until it has attached and engorged, this increases the transmission of Lyme and other associated diseases to the human host. Interesting is that although adult male ticks do carry Lyme disease, they are basically not a threat to humans as these ticks quickly fall off after a bite. This means that one should especially pay attention to the bite of a female adult deer tick. So how small is a nymph blacklegged tick? The answer helps explain why less than 50% of those diagnosed with Lyme disease ever recall a tick bite! Check out this poppy seed bagel with REAL black legged nymph ticks (black) and poppy seeds (gray). These nymphs are THIS SMALL!
Image Courtesy of Forest HitchhikerSo how small is a nymph blacklegged tick? The answer helps explain why less than 50% of those diagnosed with Lyme disease ever recall a tick bite!
Check out this poppy seed bagel with REAL black legged nymph ticks (black) and poppy seeds (gray). These nymphs are THIS SMALL!
Dogs Indicate Disease Presence
While human statistics on Lyme in the Hoosier State are limited, the independent Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC) provides very up-to-date numbers for canines testing positive with Lyme disease, Erlichiosis, and Anaplasmosis.
CAPC reported that, in 2023, of the 311,670 dogs that were tested in Indiana:
12,833 (equivalent to 1 in 30 dogs) tested positive for Lyme disease
7,169 (equivalent to 1 in 50 dogs) tested positive for Ehrlichiosis, and
3,039 (equivalent to 1 in 100 dogs) tested positive for Anaplasmosis
These statistics for in-state dogs are important, because the chances that the tested canines and their human owners are being exposed to the same disease-causing tick populations are very high. So, the difference between the numbers of confirmed human and canine Lyme cases could point to an under-diagnosed public health issue, even considering that a dog is exposed to ticks more often than its owner. In light of these factors, dogs represent a reliable indicator of a more pronounced presence of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses in Indiana than the current raw, incomplete numbers indicate.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Do you know what ticks look like?
Can ticks live indoors?
Ticks can make their way inside our homes in multiple ways, especially by catching a ride on the fur of a pet or person’s clothing/ gear, after returning back indoors from being in a tick habitat. But the blacklegged tick which carries Lyme disease cannot live very long indoors due to its inability to maintain its own body moisture. On the other hand, the American dog tick and Lone star tick can tolerate drier conditions allowing them to survive a few days to even a couple of weeks.
Where do ticks live?
When are ticks the most active?
In general, ticks are most active in late spring through mid summer. However, ticks are also active at other times of the year depending on the type of tick. While the American dog and lone star ticks are generally only active in the spring and summer, the blacklegged tick which carries Lyme disease can be active year round. In general, the blacklegged nymph (poppyseed size) ticks are active in late spring to late summer, and the adult ticks are active fall to late spring.