What’s as small as a poppy seed, loves to be near you, and can change your life forever? It sounds romantic, but it’s really not. It’s the deer tick, especially in the tiny nymph stage, and the Lyme disease bacteria it can carry.
Lyme disease was first identified in Old Lyme, Conn., in 1975, and has since spread its way up the Hudson Valley and west. The prevalence of the white-footed mouse and the white-tailed deer, both of which are part of the tick’s life cycle, means it’s a disease that’s here to stay. “We have deer ticks in the county,” says Ontario County Public Health educator Kate Ott. “We’ve known that for years. We can see that the rates of Lyme disease are going up, and there is no reason to think it’s an aberration.”
Time is of the essence
According to data from the Ontario County Department of Public Health, there were 11 confirmed cases of Lyme disease in Ontario County in 2013, com- pared to the usual one to five cases seen in the previous nine years. The increase may be due to increased infection of the ticks, higher tick survival rates, or better diagnosis of the disease. Regardless, Ott says, Lyme disease is, “always something to have in the back of your mind. You need to know if you have ticks on you and get them off you,” she says.
May through July are the most active months for the deer tick nymphs. Research shows people are most likely to get infected in May. Bites from the nymphs lead to cases of Lyme disease. And ticks are real opportunists, Ott says. They hang out on the edge of tiny branches and grasses, waiting for warm-blooded animals to brush by. When a person, dog, cat, horse or deer passes by, it jumps on, crawls to bare skin and latches on.
Lyme disease passes from tick to person through this feeding process. The tick consumes blood, and it regurgitates during the feeding process. This means anything in the tick’s gut can get onto the person, including the Lyme disease bacteria. If the tick stays on a person for more than 36 hours, the chances of contracting Lyme disease are higher because this feeding process has gone on longer. “Removing a tick within 36 hours significantly reduces the risk of contracting the disease,” Ott says.
Guard against infection
She recommends that anyone who has spent time outside where ticks might be should check themselves for ticks, and then take a shower. “Use a rough wash cloth, and dry with a towel to hopefully knock them off,” she says.
Ott says the best way to protect against ticks is to use clothing as a physical barrier, and to use bug spray. Spray exposed skin with a spray that has a 20% to 30% concentration of DEET, which will provide a couple ofhours of protection. “People should know that the higher DEET percent doesn’t mean it’s a stronger concentration, it just lasts longer,” Ott says.
People who are outside in the woods or grasses for longer periods of time, such as hunters, can buy clothing treated with insecticide permethrin, a common synthetic insect repellant. Staying on trails also helps.
Additionally, Ott reminds dog and cat owners to keep flea and tick spray on their pets. “There are confirmed cases of Lyme disease where the infection was most likely from ticks brought into the house by dogs,” Ott says.
If you find a tick on you, the first step is to remove it. And try to stay as calm as possible when you do. “Don’t annoy the tick. If you do, they regurgitate more,” Ott says. “So don’t try matches or pouring things on it. Get tweezers as close to the skin as possible, and pull with gentle, constant tension until the tick lets go. Then wash the area with soap and water and keep an eye on it.”
See the signs
The most common symptoms for Lyme disease usually occur within two weeks after a bite, and include a bulls-eye rash around the tick site, headache, fever or chills, and exhaustion. But Ott says only 70% of sufferers have the standard rash and symptoms, and the disease can remain dormant for up to 30 days. “In a perfect world, everyone would have the cookie-cutter symptoms,” Ott says. “But 30% don’t get the rash, and unfortunately the symptoms can really vary from person to person. Doctors may really struggle to diagnosis it.”
Diagnosis is complicated even more because the only available blood test can produce false positives. So the test is reserved for people with symptoms. It is not a screening tool. “It’s not like CSI, where you can be tested and have 100% accuracy,” she says. “Doctors must look at symptoms, the likelihood of contact with a tick, the prevalence of the disease in the area, and the blood work.”
If Lyme disease is diagnosed early, oral antibiotics are the usual course of treatment and, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 80% to 90% of patients will respond to this treatment, and fully recover. Those who don’t recover are diagnosed with post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome.
More cases are diagnosed in men than women, and boys ages 5 to 9 have the most cases, Ott says. It’s not that they are more susceptible, just probably that they have more exposure. “Most counties in the area are now infected by Lyme disease,” Ott says. “That won’t change; it may get worse.”
