PDA

View Full Version : More tick/chigger info



ofthearth
07-02-2008, 10:38
A Tick's Life
http://www.slate.com/id/2193879/

Why you have a little time to get the tick off before the real problems begin. And a thought about shelters and mice.

Entomologists estimate it takes more than 24 hours for the spirochete to move up and out, thus the importance of checking your body for embedded ticks and removing them as soon as possible.


An adult tick isn't as dangerous to us as a nymph, which is tiny enough to be mistaken for a freckle on light skin. The tiny adolescent is also likely to have fed on a mouse, the most efficient reservoir for the dangerous spirochete.



Itchy Chiggers!
http://lancaster.unl.edu/pest/resources/chiggers(008).shtml

take-a-knee
07-02-2008, 11:14
A Tick's Life
http://www.slate.com/id/2193879/

Why you have a little time to get the tick off before the real problems begin. And a thought about shelters and mice.

Entomologists estimate it takes more than 24 hours for the spirochete to move up and out, thus the importance of checking your body for embedded ticks and removing them as soon as possible.


An adult tick isn't as dangerous to us as a nymph, which is tiny enough to be mistaken for a freckle on light skin. The tiny adolescent is also likely to have fed on a mouse, the most efficient reservoir for the dangerous spirochete.



Itchy Chiggers!
http://lancaster.unl.edu/pest/resources/chiggers(008).shtml (http://lancaster.unl.edu/pest/resources/chiggers%28008%29.shtml)

Another good reason not to sleep in shelters. Thanks, I'd not heard the mouse angle before.

dragonfeet
07-02-2008, 11:19
very interesting link. I always thought they burrowed into your skin.

The Weasel
07-02-2008, 11:38
Mice bring Hanta Virus also, which is yet another reason to avoid sleeping in shelters or near them.

TW

rickb
07-02-2008, 19:59
There is no appreciable risk of contracting Hanta Virus at an AT shelter.

Interesting info on ticks. Now they do scare me.

Appalachian Tater
07-02-2008, 20:44
Most people who get tick-borne disease never even knew they had a tick.

JAK
07-02-2008, 20:57
Very interesting article, and well written. I like articles that include not just facts, but some philosphy on life. It was also written with a nice story line, so I guess it was a story as well as an article. Good skill, story telling.

I wonder if there are any Native American stories on ticks and Lyme disease.
Did Lyme disease originate in North America? Anybody know?

Wags
07-03-2008, 00:45
Lyme Disease was classified as a new disease in response to approximately 50 cases of pediatric arthritis in the town of Lyme, Connecticut. These cases were originally diagnosed as “Lyme Arthritis,” until the unique symptomology indicated a different etiology. This was not the first reported incidence of Lyme, as it been documented as early as 1883 by Alfred Buchwald, but it paved the way for further research into the disease


taken from some website :D

Wags
07-03-2008, 00:46
then another website:

It is a popular misconception that Lyme disease was discovered in the late 1970's in Lyme, Connecticut. However, medical literature is actually rich with more than a century of writing about the condition, although most of it has been published only in Europe.
The first record of a condition associated with Lyme disease dates back to 1883 in Breslau, Germany, where a physician named Alfred Buchwald described a degenerative skin disorder now known as acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans (ACA).
In a 1909 meeting of the Swedish Society of Dermatology, where a physician named Arvid Afzelius presented research about an expanding, ringlike lesion he had observed. Afzelius published his work 12 years later and speculated that the rash came from the bite of an Ixodes tick.

guess you shouldn't believe everything online huh? hehe

chili36
07-05-2008, 08:41
I. scapulara used to be pretty rare in Southern Appalachia, but recent surveys show the population is increasing.

StarLyte
07-05-2008, 09:15
Great thread - thanks for posting !

Odd Thomas
07-05-2008, 09:48
I've had chiggers once, I'd rather have a tick. With a tick, at least if you find it on you and remove it, it's gone.

4eyedbuzzard
07-05-2008, 10:58
I've had chiggers once, I'd rather have a tick. With a tick, at least if you find it on you and remove it, it's gone.

I'd honestly rethink that one. Chiggers are not known to carry or be a vector for any disease except in parts of Asia where they may carry typhus if the've fed of an infected host.

Itchy and Scratchy(sounds like a good name for a cartoon show) for a few days beats the heck out of Lyme disease.

Odd Thomas
07-05-2008, 12:08
I'd honestly rethink that one. Chiggers are not known to carry or be a vector for any disease except in parts of Asia where they may carry typhus if the've fed of an infected host.

Itchy and Scratchy(sounds like a good name for a cartoon show) for a few days beats the heck out of Lyme disease.

I've never had Lyme, so I guess I'm biased. :)

orangebug
07-05-2008, 16:18
There had been controversy whether the condition seen as Lyme Arthritis was a seperate entity until technology advanced to detect an infectuous agent. This controversy has paralleled those involving chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyositis and other difficult to diagnose and understand pathophysiology. Many of these illnesses share symptom complexes with mood disorders, gaining stigma and a dismissive attitude from many physicians and insurers.

There is also a great deal of snake oil quackery surrounding research and treatment of this disorder, leading to some doubt about the integrity of research and treatment recommendations. Chronic high dose IV antibiotics has been touted and doubted by many. Unfortunately, we are less certain about this area of research due to ethical lapses by reviewers and infectious disease committees contaminated with insurance company and pharmaceutical interests - dismissing research without adequate review.

Over the next couple of years, this failure will be corrected.