Some tips for stopping
the little bastards from making you sick
By Will Collette
Near the top of the list of critters that seem to have little, if any,
redeeming social value are ticks. I suspect that if India had ticks, even
Mahatma Gandhi would have gladly stomped them to death.
As every Rhode Islander, and certainly everyone in South County, knows,
we have more than our fair share of ticks and they represent a year-round
threat to health that peaks at this time of year.
Recently, I’ve seen a number of interesting pieces with ideas and
information about ticks that we all should consider.
For instance:
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| Burning is the WRONG way to remove a tick |
Tucking your pants into your socks creates a barrier. Wearing light
clothing makes them easier to spot. They can’t jump or fly – they move by
crawling and by hitching rides on critters, including humans. Setting up
barriers of gravel or wood chips between wooded areas and play areas can help.
Only blacklegged ticks (commonly called deer ticks) carry the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Lone star ticks, the American dog tick, the Rocky Mountain wood tick and the brown dog tick do not transmit the disease.
Not all ticks carry Lyme Disease. And Lyme Disease is but one of many
diseases ticks can transmit to humans.
In the Northeast, ticks can pass along not only Lyme
disease but Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis,
Tularemia, Anaplasmosis, Powassan Encephalitis and Q fever. You really don’t
want to be inflicted with any of these.
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| This is the RIGHT way to remove a tick. Try to make sure to get it all |
Not every tick bite will result in illness because
not every tick is a disease carrier. "In areas where [Lyme disease] is very common, one out of
every four or five ticks might be infected," says Paul Mead, M.D., MPH, chief of epidemiology and
surveillance activity at the CDC. If you detect and properly
remove the tick within 24 hours, the odds of infection drop greatly.
Burning
the tick off is not the best way to
remove the tick. Recommended: use tweezers (pointed head is ideal) and grab the whole tick
and pull it straight out – don’t twist. Disinfect the spot and your hands.
You
cannot get Lyme disease from another human or from a pet. The disease isn’t
transmitted that way. However, a pet (or another human) could give you a tick
if that tick moves off that body and on to yours.
Once
bitten, you may or may not show symptoms. My doctor gave me doxycillin to take
– a bolus dose of two capsules if I find a tick on me and have reason to
believe it’s been there for more than 24 hours.
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| Lonestar tick - I can attest from personal experience that we have them here in Charlestown |
If
you have been infected, you may show the telltale bullseye rash around the bite
site, but not always. Many times, you might get bitten and never know it. In my
experience, only the Lonestar ticks actually hurt (like a bastard!) when they
bite.
If you develop symptoms - fevers, headaches and muscle pain - consult a
doctor as soon as possible. There are blood tests that can detect tick-borne
diseases by identifying the antibodies your body produces to fight tick-borne
illnesses. I just had the full panel of tests done on myself.
The
longer you have Lyme Disease that goes undetected and untreated, the more
severe the symptoms can become. You can develop a facial paralysis called Bell's
palsy, arthritis, memory
and cognitive problems and heart problems. The sooner you get treated with
antibiotics, the better the outcome.
Long-term,
lingering problems called post-treatment
Lyme disease syndrome are hard to pin down
and treat.
Progressive
Charlestown has posted
a direct link to one of the best
Tick disease prevention and treatment programs in the US which is based at URI.
That’s the “Find a Tick” button in the right hand column of each page, just
below the community calendar.
Do
your bit – stomp a tick to death today!