Be Aware of Ticks and the Diseases They Carry

 

There’s so much to love about summer: warm weather and more hours of daylight make it a great time to be outside for picnics and barbeques. Unfortunately, the local tick population wholeheartedly agrees and would love join you for a picnic of their own. Let’s talk about how to keep these nasty pests from crashing your party.

Knowing the Enemy
Ticks are tiny parasites that attach to the outside of animals to feed on their blood. They are arachnids—like spiders, they have eight legs. There are many varieties, but the worst ones for human beings in this area are black-legged or deer ticks, which can be very tiny. In cases like this, a picture really is worth a thousand words: look up deer tick images on the internet and familiarize yourself with their shape and size.

Ticks are nasty pests in and of themselves, but it’s the diseases they carry that make them warrant a newspaper column. Lyme disease, a.k.a. borreliosis, is the most common in our region. If left untreated, advanced symptoms can include severe headaches, swollen joints, arthritis, neurological issues, and heart problems.

The good news is that tick bites are avoidable, ticks are removable, and tick-borne illness is treatable.

Tick Bite Prevention
Thankfully, since ticks only crawl, they are not fast or mobile. Minimizing your contact with the places they live, protecting yourself when you do venture to these places, and checking your body for ticks afterwards go a long way. Here are some things to keep in mind:

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Take precautions on any day above freezing.

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Although there are peaks from May to August and October to November, “tick season” is more about the temperature than the calendar. Ticks are active on any moderately-warm day—and so you should be, too.

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Avoid unnecessary contact with shady, moist areas with lots of vegetation.

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Trim your grass and rake up leaf litter.

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Set up yard games, kiddie pools, lawn chairs, etc. three feet away from tall grass and woods at the edge of your yard.

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Put mulch beneath playgrounds.

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Protect exposed skin.

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Wear long pants and long sleeves when going into wooded or grassy areas.

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Tuck pant legs into socks.

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Use approved insect repellant such as DEET, picaridin, IR3535, Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus (OLE), para-menthane-diol (PMD), or 2-undecanone.

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Remove clothing after being outside and check your skin for ticks in a full-length mirror.
 

Tick Removal
Despite the best precautions, ticks sometimes turn up during body checks. There’s more good news: it usually takes time for a tick to infect you with Lyme disease—as long as 36 hours. So moving quickly and correctly offers another strong defense against infection.

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Don’t wait unnecessarily.

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Some people say to cover the tick with petroleum jelly, nail polish, or something similar and wait for the tick to drop off. These techniques may get the tick off, but waiting increases the chance of infection.

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Use the right technique.

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Find a diagram or video online from a reputable medical source.

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Use tweezers and be sure to remove the mouth parts or “head” of the tick.

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Wash the area afterwards with soap and water or rubbing alcohol.

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Dispose of the tick.

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If it is carrying a disease, you don’t want to risk exposure. Flush it, seal it in bag or wrap it tightly in tape rather than squashing it or releasing it.

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Remember the details.

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If you do become ill, it can be helpful for the doctor to know when and where you were infected, so write those down.

Tick-Borne Disease Treatment
Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses are generally very treatable if caught early. Unfortunately, symptoms often don’t appear right away or can be mistaken for something else. Here are some tips to navigate this bad news. 

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Watch for symptoms for 30 days.

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Tick-borne illness symptoms can include fevers, rashes, joint pain, and severe fatigue.

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Contact your doctor.

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If you exhibit any of these symptoms, call your practitioner’s office for guidance.

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You may be asked to come in for an in-person visit for an evaluation.

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Receive treatment.

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If you meet the criteria, you may be prescribed a single dose or a full course of antibiotics.

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Keep in mind that Lyme disease testing is not helpful right after a tick bite since it takes the body several weeks to develop antibodies that can be detected.
 

Benjamin Friedell, MD is interim chief of Primary Care Services for Bassett Healthcare Network. He is a senior attending physician and practices at Oneonta Family Practice at FoxCare Center.