Heller
By JENNIFER HELLER, guest columnist
Folks who love the woods hate ticks! We all hear about West Lyme Disease, but ticks can carry other illnesses that can also be debilitating to people.
Here are a few diseases that are on the rise:
Babesiosis: 2,402 cases nationally in 2019
Spotted fever: 5,207 cases nationally in 2019
Ehrlichiosis: 2,136 cases nationally in 2019
Anaplasmosis: 5,655 cases nationally in 2019
Cases may be underreported as the illnesses might not be properly identified.
So, what happens if a tick bites you?
When the tick latches on and begins to feed, they might inject you with the bacteria, parasites and viruses living in their bodies. Some of these take a while to enter your system, others produce a reaction rapidly within a few hours. Ticks can harbor 16 different pathogens that can cause illness in humans.
Babesiosis is a parasite. Symptoms include fever, chills, sweats, headaches, body aches, loss of appetite, nausea, fatigue. In severe cases symptoms include anemia, blood clots, organ failure and occasionally death. But some people have no symptoms at all!
Spotted fever — or Rocky Mountain spotted fever — is from a bacterium. It can cause sudden onset of moderate to high fever that can last for two or three weeks, headache, abdominal pain, vomiting and muscle pain. A rash may also develop. This illness can be fatal.
Ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis are both bacterium producing similar symptoms that may include fever, muscle aches, weakness and headache. Patients may also experience confusion, nausea, vomiting and joint pain.
How do you stay somewhat tick-free?
Here are some tips:
Wear long sleeves and pants.
Tuck pants into boots.
Use an insect repellent on skin and clothing that contains DEET, picaridin or IR3535, but avoid using these on hands, eyes and mouth.
Avoid wooded and bushy areas with high grass and leaf litter.
Walk in the center of trails.
After your walk, bathe or shower and check all body parts to make sure you are tick free.
The nymph ticks are tiny, often no larger than a poppy seed, but they can bite! Don’t forget to check under your arms, in and around your ears, inside your belly button, behind your knees and anywhere else a tick could hide.
If you do find a tick attached, use tweezers to grab him just behind the head and pull slowly straight up. Don’t squeeze him in the middle or he may release his contents into you.
Save the tick in a jar for 10 days in case you do get sick as this can help your doctor determine what illness you may have. Tumble your clothes in a hot dryer in case there are ticks hiding in the folds of your clothes.
No one likes ticks and no one wants to become sick from a tick bite, but these tips will help you stay safe as your outdoors this summer.
Jennifer Heller is the environmental health specialist for the Brown County Health Department. She is responsible for restaurant inspections, septic installation inspections, vector issues, farmer’s markets and home base vendor questions and complaints. She also chairs the Terrorism and All Hazards Preparedness Committee for the Indiana Environmental Health Association and will be the president-elect of that organization in 2022. She can be reached by at [email protected].
