Local Dogs Test Positive for Lyme Disease; Humans At Risk Too

Mor­row County vet­eri­nar­ian Martha Mooney, DVM, reported that three dogs have tested pos­i­tive for Lyme dis­ease. Dr. Mooney ques­tioned the pet own­ers and found the dogs had not trav­elled out­side of Mor­row County, sug­gest­ing that ticks car­ry­ing Lyme dis­ease have arrived in Mor­row County. The deer tick, one of two vari­eties of ticks found in Mor­row County, is the one that car­ries the bac­te­ria for Lyme dis­ease, an ill­ness that makes dogs and peo­ple sick if left untreated. Ticks thrive in wooded areas. Hik­ing or hunt­ing in areas where there are a lot of trees, bushes or tall grasses work­ing in fields or jump­ing in a pile of leaves can cre­ate an oppor­tu­nity for ticks to bite pets and peo­ple and become embed­ded in fur or skin.
Win­ter weather may be on the hori­zon, but that doesn’t mean that you or your pets are safe from disease-carrying ticks. Accord­ing to the Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol and Pre­ven­tion, fall is when adult ticks are most active, so it’s impor­tant to stay vig­i­lant. To pre­vent Lyme dis­ease and other tick­borne dis­eases, CDC rec­om­mends that peo­ple: Avoid areas with high grass and leaf lit­ter and walk in the cen­ter of trails when hik­ing. Use repel­lent that con­tains 20 per­cent or more DEET on exposed skin for pro­tec­tion that lasts sev­eral hours. Par­ents should apply repel­lent to chil­dren; the Amer­i­can Acad­emy of Pedi­atrics rec­om­mends prod­ucts with up to 30 per­cent DEET for kids. Always fol­low prod­uct instruc­tions! Use prod­ucts that con­tain per­me­thrin to treat cloth­ing and gear, such as boots, pants, socks and tents or look for cloth­ing pre-treated with per­me­thrin. Bathe or shower as soon as pos­si­ble after com­ing indoors to wash off and more eas­ily find crawl­ing ticks before they bite you. Con­duct a full-body tick check using a hand-held or full-length mir­ror to view all parts of your body upon return­ing from tick-infested areas. Pay par­tic­u­lar atten­tion to creases where ticks like to bur­row – under­arms, behind knees, the folds of the ears, etc. Typ­i­cal symp­toms of Lyme dis­ease include fever, headache, fatigue, and a large, expand­ing skin rash that may have a bull’s-eye appear­ance. If left untreated, infec­tion can spread to joints, the heart, and the ner­vous sys­tem. Any­one who devel­ops a fever or a rash after being bit­ten by a tick or spend­ing time in tick-infested areas should seek prompt med­ical care. Most patients with Lyme dis­ease can be treated suc­cess­fully with a few weeks of antibi­otics, espe­cially if treated early. Some signs your dog might be infected are a loss of appetite, gen­eral lack of energy (lame­ness) and shift­ing legs — the dog changes weight from one leg to another. The bot­tom line is, if you develop flu-like symp­toms, with or with­out a rash, after being in con­di­tions favor­able to ticks, con­tact your health­care provider or seek med­ical atten­tion, says Stephanie Shaver, Pub­lic Health Nurse with the Mor­row County Health Depart­ment. “Even if you never see a tick, but you’re feel­ing sick, have the bull’s-eye rash and have been in wooded areas, it’s impor­tant that you con­tact you doc­tor imme­di­ately,” Shaver added. In Ohio, more than 200 cases of Lyme dis­ease were reported in 2011. So far in 2012, more than 330 cases have been reported – five of which have been from Mor­row County. For more infor­ma­tion on Lyme dis­ease, con­tact the Mor­row County Health Depart­ment at (419) 947– 1545 or visit us on the web at www.MorrowCountyHealth.org. We are “Your Part­ner in Pre­ven­tion and Pre­pared­ness.”
What is Lyme Dis­ease? Lyme dis­ease is caused by a kind of bac­terium that is trans­mit­ted by a tick called the black-legged tick (for­merly called the deer tick). Lyme dis­ease can cause symp­toms affect­ing the skin, ner­vous sys­tem, heart, and/or joints. The Ohio Depart­ment of Health is aware of cases occur­ring in the state since sur­veil­lance for Lyme dis­ease began in 1980. Who gets Lyme Dis­ease? Males and females of all ages can get Lyme dis­ease. Peo­ple who spend time out­doors in tick-infested envi­ron­ments are at an increased risk of expo­sure. Most cases have reported an expo­sure to ticks or woodland/brush habi­tats dur­ing the months of May through August, but cases have been reported in every month of the year. How soon do symp­toms occur? The early symp­toms usu­ally occur 3 to 32 days after the tick bite. The most telling symp­tom is a bite that resem­bles a bull’s-eye. How should a tick be removed? To remove an attached tick, grasp it with tweez­ers as close as pos­si­ble to the skin and pull with firm, steady pres­sure straight out. Do not twist or jerk the tick, as the mouth­parts might break off. If tweez­ers are not avail­able, pro­tect fin­gers with rub­ber gloves or tis­sue paper. Do not han­dle ticks with bare hands. Do not squeeze, crush or punc­ture the body of the tick as it may con­tain infected flu­ids. After remov­ing the tick, thor­oughly dis­in­fect the bite site and wash your hands. See or call your doc­tor if there is a con­cern about incom­plete tick removal. Source: The Ohio Depart­ment of Health

Posted by Taylor Kaser on Nov 14 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.