Lyme Disease Warning

[John]

June 12, 2008

 

The Hamilton Spectator

 

 

If you're headed to Turkey Point Provincial Park anytime soon, pull out the DEET bug repellent.

 

Researchers have found Lyme bacterium in ticks within the park. The bacterium was also found in ticks in neighbouring St. Williams Crown Forest. Lyme disease develops into a debilitating viral illness if left untreated, with symptoms such as headache, fatigue and muscle aches.

 

Visitors and park staff should use DEET as a tick repellent, says the Lyme Disease Association of Ontario. After a park outing, people should do a full-body tick check.

 

Anyone infected with the bacterium from a tick bite may develop a homogenous or bull's-eye rash. Both rashes expand in size and disappear as the bacterium disperses within the body.

 

The rash is the only clinical symptom. Some experts say 90 per cent of those infected get a rash while others say less than half.

 

 

http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/384873

[bigfish1965]

2 dogs tested positive at my local vet, too, so it is on the move!

[Beats]

I've had many ticks get on me and I guess I'm lucky to have gotten no ill effects. I had a dog tick on me when I was at a camp when I was around 10 years old. The tick burrowed right into me and i had no idea what it was. People tried to burn it off, use pliers, rubbing alcohol... all to no avail. It eventually was ripped apart and removed in chunks. This is not the recommended way to remove them. You don't want to break the head off. Then like 6 weeks ago I found 3-4 ticks on me when I was getting into the shower after fishing near Delaware (this is close to where the first one was from years before). I caught one and kept it and the health unit told me they were dog ticks and not effective transmitters of lyme disease.

 

Basically the thing to know is that there are different types of ticks and that the main thing doctors are concerned with is WHERE you got the ticks. Certain areas are known to have ticks with lyme disease. Almost every person I talked to mentioned Long Point as been bad for it.

 

On a side note: These things just wont die. Upon finding 3 or 4 stuck to me a few weeks back I pulled them off and threw them down my bathroom sink drain and then ran the tap for a minute to flush them down. I then had a shower and when I got out and looked in the sink all the ticks had somehow survived and crawled all the way back out of the drain and were in the sink again. I tried to squish them with toilet paper and they just wouldn't squish, so i flushed them... I then called the hospital to see if they wanted me to get a shot or something and was put on hold for an insanely long time during which another tick fell out of my pant leg and landed at my feet. This after putting on new pants after just having an overly long shower to make sure no more were on me. I put this tick in a pill container and took it to the health unit.

 

As far as avoiding them: I am certain that I picked them up in long grass that I walked through to get to a fishing spot. The bug expert at the Health unit was telling me that they aren't really an insect but more like a spider. HE was describing that they can't jump and they can't fly. They more or less climb up high on grass and wait for a "blood meal" to walk by. They can sense the CO2 and heat coming off your body and they latch on and crawl around and usually nestle into an area such as the back on the neck, back of the knee, armpit etc.

[bucktail]

My buddie in Vineland was the first in his area to be diagnosed with it.

I know check everything when I come back from my stand there.