From Harmless Nuisance to Frightening Enemy: the Perceptions of Ticks in Finland before the Beginning of the Tick Hysteria in the 1990s

Abstract

<p>This chapter investigates the relationship between ticks and humans in Finland between 1889 and 1990. The multispecies relationship is examined using the digitised press material of the National Library of Finland. The chapter shows that for a very long time in Finland, ticks were mainly understood as harmless nuisance and as metaphors for devouring and slowness, among other things. Ticks were known to be the cause of Redwater fever, a dangerous disease for cattle, as early as the beginning of the 1900s. These arachnids were also understood to spread TBE, which is dangerous to humans, as early as the mid-20th century. Despite these facts, however, ticks were understood in the Finnish public discussion as more or less harmless animals until the 1990s, when the awareness of the link between ticks and borreliosis started to spread in the Finnish public debate. After this, ticks began to be presented in public discussion exclusively as “frightening enemies”.<br></p>