Deer Ticks, Black-Legged Ticks and Lyme Disease
Several years ago a very close friend of mine was bitten by a deer tick. I had never even heard of a deer tick but have since learned what nasty creatures they are.
My friend was diagnosed with Lyme disease and had to take antibiotics for several months. She was sick for a long while and we all began to wonder if she was ever going to be herself again.
She has a cabin in the Catskill Mountains of New York and loved doing her gardening and hiking and just general outdoor living. Lyme disease slowed her down for quite some time. Recently, I was told that she has been bitten again. Now she has to go another round of antibiotics and feeling sick again.
This time I wanted more information. I garden and spend time in the outdoors. She is in New York and I am in California, yet I don't hear about Lyme disease.
What is Lyme disease and what does a tick look like? Am I looking at ticks in my garden and I don't even know it. I am a girly girl, I wear gloves when I garden because I don't want to touch worms and bugs, has this saved me from getting bit? I decided that I really needed to know, after all knowledge protects...Right???
What Is A Tick?
Ticks are parasites that live in tall grasses and shrubs and wait to attach themselves to a host. They feed on blood from birds, mammals, occasionally reptiles and amphibians. They can't jump or fly but they can drop onto their host from their perch.
Ticks of all kinds like humid places like tall grasses and shrubs. They detect their host by heat or the carbon dioxide breathed by the nearby host. They prefering body creases such as the nape of the neck, armpits, knees, and groin but they will attach anywhere . They feed on blood by inserting their mouth parts into the skin of the host, then feeding slowly sometimes taking several days.
Where are ticks found?
From spring through fall you need to take precautions against tick bites. They start getting active in April or May when eggs first hatch. From about late June to early July they are most active and feeding. During autumn they start to slow down and become less active. They are the least active in January and February and are least likely to feed in these months.
The Deer Tick or the Black-legged Tick is found in the eastern United States, from Florida to central Texas in the south, from Maine to Minnesota and Iowa in the north.
It is reddish brown in color and about 3mm in size. The Nymph and larvae are much smaller in size and lighter in color. They like the forest and areas containing leaf litter.
The Western Black-Legged Tick is found in the Pacific US and British Columbia. It is physically smaller than the Deer Tick. It likes the forest, north coastal scrub, grasslands and brush.
The American Dog Tick or Wood Tick is found throughout the US, mostly east of the Rocky Mountains and sparsely in the Rocky Mountain region. It has a dark brown body with an irregular white mark behind the head; they are about 1/8 inch in length. They can be found in wooded areas, grassy meadows, and anywhere animals are kept.
The Brown Dog Tick or Red dog Tick is found throughout the US and parts of southeastern Canada. It is reddish brown in color with an elongated body with no ornamentation. It is found in houses and kennels, anywhere that a dog lives.
Rocky Mountain Wood Ticks are found in the Rocky Mountain States and southwestern Canada. It is brown and gray in color and found outdoors in low vegetation.
Lone Star Ticks are found mainly in the southeastern US west to Texas; found in pockets of New Jersey, Fire Island, New York and Prudence Island, Rhode Island. It likes wooded areas with brush, especially hickory-oak forests, along creeks and rivers.
Symptoms
Lyme disease has very mild symptoms in the early stages and can be very easily overlooked but with early treatment full recovery can be attained.
Early symptom which occurs in about 50-60% of cases starts with a red rash. The rash generally has these characteristics:
- Redness radiates (but not always) from the site of the tick bite
- The rash can appear solid or blotched or a central spot surrounded by clear skin that is ringed by a red spot looking like a bulls eye
- It appears 1-2 weeks after disease transmission
- Average diameter of 5-6 inches
- Lasts 3-5 weeks
- May be warm to the touch
- It is not usually painful or itchy
When the rash appears other symptoms may appear such as fatigue, chills, joint pain, and fever these may not seem serious enough to seek out medical attention because they are similar to the flu.
As Lyme disease progresses other symptoms begin to appear like severe fatigue, numbness in the extremities or facial palsy, and a stiff, aching neck. As the disease becomes more severe you may have severe headache, arthritis, cardiac abnormalities and central nervous system involvement leading to mental confusion.
They do not have a test to diagnose Lyme disease, so they must make a clinical diagnosis. The treatment varies depending upon how early the diagnosis is made and how involved the body has become. For the early stages of the disease oral antibiotic may be sufficient the later stages may require several courses of either oral or intravenous antibiotics.
Prevention
You can reduce your chances of contracting Lyme disease by wearing light-colored clothing so ticks can be spotted easily and removed before becoming attached. Long sleeved blouses and shirts, pants tucked inside your boots may prevent ticks from reaching your skin.
If a tick attaches to you removing it within 24 hours reduces your chances of contracting the disease. To remove the tick use fine point tweezers place them around the mouthparts of the tick and gently pull upwards until the tick detaches. Do Not use your bare fingers. Disinfect the bite site and the tweezers after you have removed the tick.
At this time my friend is under going another round of antibiotics and feeling tired and sick, she thought that she had taken all necessary precautions yet she was bitten again. I hope that what she is going through will not be in vain because you and I will have learned what we need to do to protect ourselves.