Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 5/18/2021
SPRINGFIELD – It’s been a year of outdoor activities, one where walks in the woods to soothe the soul have kept the worst effects of pandemic lockdowns at bay, and hikes along local trails have served as an alternative to time at the gym.
But along with all this outdoor activity comes a threat – the ticks that spread Lyme disease and other illnesses have become as active as you are – and they’re hungry.
It’s Lyme disease time again
Though May is officially Lyme Disease Awareness Month, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health the adult black-legged tick – which can carry bacterium that cause Lyme and other tick-borne diseases – probably became active as early as March, or whenever the temperature was consistently above 45 degrees. The infant – or poppy seed size – black legged tick nymphs begin to emerge this month. Both are active through August – prime outdoor activity time. And the adult black-legged ticks also present a threat through November. (https://www.mass.gov/tick-borne-diseases)
That means if you haven’t been tucking long pants into your sock, wearing long sleeves, using an insect repellent with DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus or IR 3535 – and doing a thorough check of your body and scalp for ticks whenever you come in from outdoor activity – it’s time to start.
“It doesn't have to be in a wooded area,” for you to be exposed to ticks, said Dr. Mark Kenton, chief of the Emergency Department at Mercy Medical Center. Kenton said he routinely does a tick check on his children after they’ve been out playing in his Sturbridge backyard. “If you have children, check their back, behind their knees, and do the same on yourself” when you come inside from outdoor activities.
Other tick hiding places include behind the ears, the belly button, groin and under the arms. A quick shower after coming in from outdoor activities and a check for any obvious ticks – which will swell in size as they feed – or bumps that might indicate a tick has burrowed into the skin, should be routine at this time of year, Kenton added.
If you find a tick attached to yourself or a family member, Kenton offered this removal trick: “Take a cotton swab and twist [the tick] counter-clockwise. They don’t like that and usually detach,” he said.
Don’t miss the symptoms
According to the Massachusetts Department of Health, symptoms of Lyme disease include a rash that looks like a bull’s eye, flu-like symptoms such as fever and headache, a stiff neck, sore and aching muscles and joints, fatigue and swollen glands. The symptoms can appear anywhere from three to 30 days after the initial tick bite.
“The bull’s eye rash, that’s a textbook presentation, and we know in medicine not all things present in a textbook manner,” Kenton explained. “Sometimes the first symptom [of Lyme] can be fatigue.”
Kenton said he had a case where a young woman came into the Mercy Emergency Department complaining of fatigue that had lasted for weeks. An EKG revealed she had a third stage heart blockage, and further testing showed she had an untreated case of Lyme disease.
Kenton added his own young son suddenly showed symptoms of Lyme while the family was vacationing in Jamaica. “He presented with a swollen knee and couldn’t walk [and] I got to experience the ER in another country,” Kenton shared, adding that when tests revealed the condition was Lyme, it was a 17-hour trip to get his son home for treatment.
"We didn’t even know he had been bitten,” Kenton added.Other potential Lyme symptoms include numbness in the extremities, pain in the legs and short-term memory loss, Kenton said. “Any neurologic symptom, such as Bell’s palsy of the face, we do a Lyme test to rule it out.”
Ticks can make pets ill, too
But it isn’t just humans who can contract Lyme or other diseases from a tick bite. Kenton said pets can be susceptible as well.
“We had a golden retriever that had seizures that ended up [having] ehrlichiosis” which, like babesiosis, is another tick-borne disease, Kenton said.
The symptoms of ehrlichiosis in humans are similar to Lyme, he noted “fatigue, that will be with ehrlichiosis, and also muscle aches. Sometimes there’s nausea, vomiting and diarrhea with ehrlichiosis. I think you see less of that with Lyme.”
Kenton said the potential for ticks bearing Lyme and other diseases entering your home via your pets means that they need a thorough tick check after being outside as well.
“You don’t want them jumping on the furniture, the couch, or the bed, then ticks can detach and burrow there to hide,” he said.
If you have your yard treated for mosquitos, Kenton suggested asking your service to include a tick spray in this year’s application as well.