It is officially summer (or just about so). School ends tomorrow at noon.
Summer is a time to get outside, create new routines, and participate in healthy activities. It is also a time when many of us travel. I am writing a six-part summer health and safety series with summer on the horizon. This series started a few weeks ago when I shared my summer plans and how we will move our bodies this summer. I’ve also written about water safety, sun safety, and food safety.
Today let’s talk about tickborne diseases, specifically Lyme Disease.
Our family spends a lot of time outside during the summer. And we spend a lot of time in the woods hiking.
And if you have been following along for a while, you may remember that last summer we encountered a rattlesnake on a hike — the experience of coming face-to-face with a rattlesnake forced me to think a lot about being safe in the woods. There is a lot of great information online about how to hike safely (check out this & this). Three things I’d like to highlight here are —
the need to pack plenty of water
the need to have a communications plan
the requirement that no one hikes alone.
In addition to snake safety and general hiking safety — we all need to be aware of ticks and take steps to prevent tickborne diseases, especially Lyme Disease.
According to CDC, there are an estimated 476,000 cases of Lyme Disease in the United States each year. Lyme Disease (named after the town of Lyme in Connecticut where the disease was first identified) is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi.
Lyme disease is spread through the bite of an infected black-legged tick. Symptoms of Lyme disease include fever, headaches, joint pain, fatigue, and the classic bullseye rash. NOTE — the rash only shows up in 70-80% of Lyme cases.
If you find a tick on your body, remove it. And then it is best to call your physician and ask about getting treated for Lyme disease.
Finding ticks on your body can be hard work. During the spring and summer months, when ticks are most prevalent, they are really small.
If you follow me on social media, you may remember that last spring I dug a tick out of my son’s bellybutton early one Saturday morning. The tick had burrowed into the bottom of his belly button. It has tough to remove (the bruising here shows how deep the tick got into his belly button and how hard I had to pull to get it out).
Ticks like to hide out in spots like the belly button. They also like under the arms, in and around the ears, on the back of one’s knees, between the legs, and around the waist.
If you are out in the woods or areas with high grass, it is best to wear protective clothing. Think — pants, knee-high socks. Regardless of what you are wearing, when you get home, take a shower to remove any ticks that have not latched on yet. And then conduct a tick check of your whole body.
If you find a tick, remove it immediately. And reach out to your healthcare provider. If you live in the northeastern US, where Lyme disease is very prevalent, most providers will treat a tick bite as a probable case of Lyme disease. You’ll be treated with an antibiotic.
Do you need to send the tick to a lab to determine if it has Lyme disease? No — we do not diagnose Lyme disease through the tick. Lyme is diagnosed through a two-step blood test. Testing the tick for the disease allows us to know where the disease is circulating (and at what rate), but it cannot be used to diagnose an individual.
Several weeks ago, I saw an online discussion/debate regarding the increase in the number of ticks in our communities along with the increase in Lyme disease concerns and cases. Having grown up in the 1980s in the northeastern US — I do not ever remember encountering a tick. And yet currently I get daily tick reports from my kids, especially my son who participates in a forest school program.
Why the increase in ticks? And tickborne disease?
There is no simple/straightforward answer. But we know that land use, including deforestation and reforestation, has led to more ticks in our communities. Additionally, climate change — specifically warmer temperatures and warmer winters — is expanding the geographic range where ticks can live.
There are more ticks and more disease.
We all must take responsibility for preventing and treating Lyme disease.
Questions?
Be safe outside this summer. And be sure your friends and family are, too.