Tick-borne illnesses have quite a bite

Ticks may transmit illnesses such as Lyme disease. FIle Photo Summertime beckons people to spend time outdoors, but along with favorite warm-weather activities like hiking, camping and gardening comes the risk of tick bites.

Lyme disease is one of the most common tick-borne diseases in the northern hemisphere. In Chesterfield, there were nine reported cases of Lyme disease in the last year, according to Dr. William Nelson, director of the county’s health department.

Lyme disease isn’t very common in Chesterfield, but its incidence is gradually growing, says Dr. Al Rogers with Associates of Chesterfield at St. Francis Medical Center. He has treated seven or eight cases of Lyme disease in the past year.

“The first thing people need to know is what types of ticks carry it, and that there are other tick-borne diseases out there like Rocky Mountain Fever and Ehrlichiosis. These are all fairly severe diseases that are easy to prevent,” Rogers says. “The tick for Lyme disease is the deer tick, and it’s very small, like the size of a poppy seed. It generally needs to be on your body for 48 hours or longer to spread the infection, so you want to remove it as soon as possible.”

Symptoms of Lyme disease include fever, headache and stiff neck, but the most common symptom is a bull’s-eye rash that usually appears around the bite.

“If you’re feeling feverish or flu-ish, you’re going to need to see a doctor,” says Dr. Sheila Clasbey with the Primary Health Group in Brandermill.

“What ticks do is they attach themselves and spend some time burrowing their head in and then they feed. They just don’t bite you and leave,” Nelson says. “They dig in and attach, and then they start to swell up with blood. When you have a tick attached, you’ll see it.”

Clasbey says she treated three people for Lyme disease last year, ranging in age from young to old.

“It’s all over the place. You just have to be out there around the ticks,” Clasbey says.

According to Nelson, the ticks actually contract the disease from white-footed mice. The tick acts as a carrier, and once it attaches itself to a human, it transfers the disease. Peak months for Lyme disease are June, July and August.

If left untreated, Lyme disease can do severe damage.

“It can get fairly bad. Some people develop a chronic form, and it can give you severe arthritis, affect your heart function and have neurological effects,” Nelson says. “Those are all very rare, and they don’t happen very often, but those are the things that make Lyme disease very serious.”

Lyme disease isn’t the only tick-borne disease in the area. There were five reported cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever and seven reported cases of Ehrlichiosis within the past year, according to Nelson.

Named after the region where it was first diagnosed, Rocky Mountain spotted fever is mainly transmitted by the American dog tick and Rocky Mountain wood tick. Symptoms include fever, nausea, muscle pain, a rash and headache. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the majority of patients end up hospitalized. More than half of cases occur in the south-Atlantic region, including Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina.

The symptoms for Ehrlichiosis are similar to Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. It’s transmitted primarily by the lone star tick.

When patients come in with a tick bite, according to Clasbey, they are often given an antibiotic called doxycycline, which treats Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Ehrlichiosis, while they are waiting on test results to see if they actually have a tick-borne disease. Many doctors give the antibiotic as a precaution.

Avoid the bite

According to Dr. William Nelson, director of the county’s health department, you can reduce the chance of tick bites by:

• Using insect repellent, especially those with the chemical DEET

• Wearing light-colored clothing, which makes it easier to spot ticks. Tuck your pants into your socks so the tick has nothing to grab onto.

• Doing a routine check of your body, or having someone else do it for you, to check for ticks after you’ve spent time outside. Also, make sure your pets are on a flea/tick preventative.