From the library of

Frank Barnhill M.D.
 

As warm weather approaches, we all have to be concerned with tick bites and the diseases ticks can carry. Tick bite illnesses can occur almost anytime during the year, but are most often seen in spring and summer. Common names for these afflictions include Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Lyme Disease, Ehrlichiosis (er-lick-ee-o-sis), Tularemia (too-la-ree-me-a), and Babesiosis (bab-e-see-o-sis).

A germ carried by deer, dog or other area specific ticks causes each of these diseases. For example, Lyme Disease is more common in the deer tick of northeastern and Midwestern United States, but can also be found in all other states as well as Asia, Australia, and Europe. In contrast, Babesiosis tends to be most commonly found in deer ticks in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York.

Most of us are exposed by walking through grassy areas with low shrubs and high grasses, as ticks wait on the outer branches or leaves for a warm bodied person or animal to brush up against them. Even if they don’t land on skin, they will cling to clothing and crawl for hours to find a place to attach.

Despite the fact that each disease is a separate illness detectable by blood testing, all share common symptoms. Most of us who’ve had one of the diseases just thought we had an early case of the “flu”. So, it’s common for those affected to “ache all over”, feel tired, have a fever, chills, cough, or sore throat, notice a headache, have an upset stomach or break out in a rash. It’s important to understand that tick bite rashes occur in less than thirty percent of all those bitten. So, don’t rely on the appearance of a rash to decide whether to go see a doctor or not. A good rule in any sickness is “If flu symptoms hang around for more than four or five days, then it’s usually not the flu”.

The early rash of Lyme Disease occurs at the site of the bite and is called erythema migrans. It starts as a red spot and may enlarge to form a “bull’s-eye”, or spread all over the body. Those afflicted with Lyme Disease may be a little sicker early on. Since the disease can affect the nervous system, you can have a headache with a stiff neck, a slow or irregular heartbeat, and more prominent joint and muscle pains.

How do you know if you have one of these illnesses? Your Family Doctor will do an examination and draw blood for testing for each disease. Sometimes, you may have the disease, but blood tests fail to show it present. In such cases, if your doctor suspects the disease anyway, it will be necessary to take one or two antibiotics and repeat your blood tests in about sixty days. Unfortunately, if you are treated at an early stage in your illness, blood work may never accurately show that you had the disease. A word of caution: if you or your doctor are suspicious the disease is present, then you probably should receive treatment even with negative blood tests. If untreated, these tick borne diseases can cause serious damage to different parts of the body, as in Lyme Disease nerve damage and arthritis, and sometimes even death.





What can you do to prevent these diseases and keep you and your children safe?

1. Avoid areas where ticks nest between May and October
2. When outdoors in grassy or wooded areas, wear long sleeves, long pants and tuck pant legs into boots or socks to prevent ticks from getting to bare skin
3. Always check yours and your children’s clothing for “roaming ticks” when coming in from play or outside activities (When I work in the yard, I brush off and shake all of my clothing before going into the house, since ticks may “roam” for hours before attaching) Wearing light colored clothing helps you spot the little critters easier!
4. Have your partner check you and you check your kids from head to toe once a day for the presence of attached or roaming ticks. Ticks like to migrate to skin folds and creases.
5. Apply DEET containing tick repellants to skin or clothing before going into wooded or grassy areas. Do not use permethrin repellants directly on skin and always avoid applying anything to areas around the eyes and on the hands of small children
6. Remember that ticks usually do not transmit any disease until they have been attached for several hours. Do not try to burn, suffocate or irritate an embedded tick. If you do so, you stand a greater chance the tick will regurgitate and transmit the disease directly into the bite wound
7. Remove embedded ticks as soon as possible by using a pair of tweezers to firmly grasp the head and pull all body parts out. Clean the bite area with alcohol and apply Neosporin.
8. Mark your calendar with the date you discover an embedded tick, as most symptoms will show up within three weeks.

Now that you know a lot more about tick bites, you and your family should be able to have a safer, less stressful, fun filled summer.

Dr. Frank