I feel this comment is very generalizing. I’m not so sure if Americans are “risk-averse”. There needs to be a balance between risk and reward. I live in a part of Europe, where ticks are widespread. Of course you could go into the woods with short pants in summer time, but I don’t. Oh, BTW: American tourists do...

Regarding the specific risk, this was discussed here last week: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16320964