Tick Diseases Are Rising in Maine. This Bar Harbor Business Is Trying to Help
Mar 12, 2026
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Edward Jones Financial Advisor: Elise N. Frank.
BAR HARBOR—Hannah Paradis has joined a list of Bar Harbor residents who have been impacted by tick-borne diseases. But it’s more than that. She wants to do something about it.
Some Bar Harbor residents like Emily Bracale have written and educated others about their journey with Lyme. Others, like Ken Colburn came close to dying last fall from babesiosis as well as Lyme disease and he wanted everyone to know about it so that they could be vigilant.
Paradis is using her family’s business, Paradis Hardware, to help spread awareness, offer tools to help prevent close contact with ticks, and hopefully keep more locals and visitors safe.
“If we can help others avoid getting bit by a tick by taking precautions that would be amazing,” Paradis said.
When Paradis was a little girl, she was bit by a tick. She contracted Lyme disease. It impacted her entire family, she said.
“I lived with Lyme disease for over ten years,” she said. “It was a tough battle and it took me a long time to figure out answers.”
According to the Centers of Disease Control (CDC), “Typical symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, and a characteristic skin rash called erythema migrans. If left untreated, infection can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system.”
Lyme is contracted when a bacteria in blacklegged ticks enters the body via a bite. The person becomes infected.
Most people only think of Lyme disease when they think of illnesses that have to do with ticks, but in the last ten years, the incidences of Babesiosis, which Colburn had, has increased by 1,422% in Maine, from 9 in 2011 to 138 in 2019 and 319 cases so far in 2025.
The first known human case was in Croatia in 1957, when a young farmer died of it due to it causing renal insufficiency. Unlike Lyme disease, it does not cause a rash.
Close to real-time counts for anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and Lyme disease are available on the Maine Tracking Network. Already this year, the Maine CDC shows 242 cases of Lyme disease, 4 of anaplasmosis, and 7 of babesiosis in Maine. It is only March.
In 2025, there were 4,257 cases of people with tickborne diseases in Maine.
“I am very outdoorsy. I love gardening, fishing, and just being outdoors. It’s such a healthy part of my everyday life. I want to do everything I can to not let ticks ruin it for me,” Paradis said.
She wants to help other people not have ticks ruin their experiences either.
“At Paradis Ace Hardware we try to provide people with clothing sprays such as Permethrin, yard sprays, and bug sprays. We try to include a range of options and we include less toxic choices too,” she said. “We also have tick removal tools and tweezers.”
Between 2018 and 2022, there were 103 cases of Lyme in Bar Harbor; 54 in Mount Desert; 37 in Tremont; and 33 in both Trenton and Southwest Harbor.
Tick removal is the priority if one is spotted.
“Remove attached ticks as soon as possible. Depending on the type of tick and how long it was attached, antibiotic prophylaxis might help to prevent Lyme disease. Call your doctor if you develop fever, rash, or other symptoms,” the CDC advises.
The Maine CDC recommends taking these steps to limit exposure to ticks:
- “T: Take and use an EPA-approved repellent. Use DEET, picaridin, IR3535 (Ethyl butylacetylaminopropionate), or oil of lemon eucalyptus on skin. Use permethrin on clothing only.
- “I: Inspect your whole body for ticks daily and after any outdoor activities. Check family members and pets too.
- “C: Cover your skin with light-colored long sleeve shirts and pants. Tuck pants into socks.
- “K: Know when you are in tick habitat and take precautions in areas where ticks may live.
“S: Shower when you get home to help remove crawling ticks. Put clothes in the dryer on high heat for 15 minutes before washing to kill any ticks in your clothes.”
Photos provided by Hannah Paradis.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
After a Tick Bite Nearly Took His Life, a Bar Harbor Man Finds Gratitude in Survival
·
October 4, 2025
Maine CDC Encourages Tick Bite Prevention This Fall
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October 17, 2025
The UMaine Tick Lab has information about ticks and tick testing.
The Maine CDC weekly arboviral surveillance reports,
The Maine CDC mosquitoes and ticks website
HETL clinical forms and submission instructions.
The U.S. CDC tickborne disease reference manual for clinicians.
The Maine CDC disease reporting and consultation line: 1-800-821-5821 (available 24/7)
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