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  1. #1

    Default New map of Lyme disease risk

    http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/...me_disease.jpg
    New Map Shows that Most Lyme-Infected Ticks Are in Northeast, Northern Midwest | Observations, Scientific American Blog Network
    http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/...e_risk_map.jpg

    What precautions will you folks be taking to avoid becoming a victim of this dreaded monster?

    [That makes regular tick checks a good preventive measure. And it doesn’t have to be a solitary chore. As country singer Brad Paisley notes, “I’d like to walk you through a field of wildflowers, and I’d like to check you for ticks.”]
    Last edited by ALLEGHENY; 02-03-2012 at 03:35.

  2. #2
    Punchline RWheeler's Avatar
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    I contracted Lyme's last year and it really threw me off - it has taken about 9 months for me to really start getting back to normal for me.

    I'll be checking myself regularly, that's for sure. Once I get past VA, anyway.

  3. #3
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    found this concerning tick bites and time it takes to transmit the disease.

    A tick that was not attached, was easy to remove or just walking on the skin, and was still flat and tiny and not full of blood when it was removed could not have transmitted Lyme disease or any other infection since it had not yet taken a blood meal.

    Only ticks that are attached and have finished feeding or are near the end of their meal can transmit Lyme disease. After arriving on the skin, the tick that spreads Lyme disease usually takes 24 hours before feeding begins.

    • Even if a tick is attached, it must have taken a blood meal to transmit Lyme disease. At least 36 to 48 hours of feeding is required for a tick to have fed and then transmit the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. After this amount of time, the tick will be engorged (full of blood). An engorged tick has a globular shape and is larger than an unengorged one.

  4. #4

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    I've seen regular-sized ticks, both unfed and after feeding. And I've seen those incredibly small deer ticks (Nymphs), but I've never seen a Nymph that has fed, so kind of curious how much size feeding would add to those little suckers.

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    Quote Originally Posted by john gault View Post
    I've seen regular-sized ticks, both unfed and after feeding. And I've seen those incredibly small deer ticks (Nymphs), but I've never seen a Nymph that has fed, so kind of curious how much size feeding would add to those little suckers.
    i pulled two of those little nymph SOB's off my body after leaving the ocala forest a couple years back. one on my inner thigh and the other was under my waist band. not sure how long they were there but it was not more than four or five hours. those nymph guys are extremely small and hard to detect. my buddy pitdog was the 1st person to make me aware of the tiny bugers. he is a logger and has tons of outdoor experience fwiw...

  6. #6

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    It's well worth treating your clothes, using protective clothing, and using deet when the ticks start. I'm hoping that the cold winter with lack of snow cover knocks down NH's tick population this year. They've been awful the last couple of years.
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    Lots of poorly maintained trail and overgrown grass/vegetation on the AT where that new Lyme Disease map begins and ends in New England. No wonder we have so many thru hikers afflicted.

  8. #8
    Flip flop, flip flopping' LASHin' 2000 miler
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    I'm gonna put 6oz bottles of permethrin in drop boxes spaced ~6 weeks apart, starting in northern Virginia. I'll treat my socks, trousers and shirt, and wear deet on exposed skin around ankles and wrists.

    My BIL had a dear tick imbedded for less than 8 hrs. The tick tested positive, and he has non-specific symptoms that could be just the fact that he's an olde phart - fever, aches and pains ... We're waiting for results from western blot test.
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  9. #9

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    I think its a good idea to spray the pack too, since that gets set down on the ground/grass a lot and then put back on your back.

    Going by the distribution map, I don't think I'll bother hiking through PA/NJ/NY and CT again. Too much risk for too little reward.
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  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by Spokes View Post
    ...overgrown grass/vegetation on the AT...
    Beauty of nature vs. the hazards of nature. It's a pretty ugly world.

    You'll ever notice that when you look over to a point you're headed, it's so pretty and serene looking from a distance, but once you get there it looks no different than where you observed it from. Nature's best viewed from a distance

  11. #11
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    Cure for Lyme disease (and anaplasmoisis) is Doxycyclene. I got 100 in Mexico for about six bucks.

  12. #12

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    I found a fully engorged tick on me this past archery season here in western PA.

    I didn't know what it was until after I just grabbed it and ripped it off. probably injecting the bacteria. Doc gave me two pills (Doxycyclene) just in case. Now 5+ months later, still have small red mark where the mouth parts are under the skin. Hope the antibiotic did it's job.

    I will use deet, permeithrie, long sleeves and pants. I also will check for the tick.
    Last edited by ALLEGHENY; 02-03-2012 at 12:49.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by swjohnsey View Post
    Cure for Lyme disease (and anaplasmoisis) is Doxycyclene. I got 100 in Mexico for about six bucks.
    Funny, I thought Forsythia was the cure.......
    Last edited by Spokes; 02-03-2012 at 13:28.

  14. #14
    Registered User swjohnsey's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Spokes View Post
    Funny, I thought Forsythia was the cure.......
    Good luck with that!

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    Several AT hikers the past two years felt they contracted Lyme's Disease in Shenandoah NP. The deer tick map from the OP really doesn't say northern VA is affected, but hikers think otherwise.
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  16. #16

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    I'm not really impressed with that map in the OP. Seems like a lot of wasted man-hours and money. Especially considering how quickly things like bacteria and ticks don't stay in one location. What's funny is this statement in the OP's link:

    These findings should help doctors better evaluate a person’s actual risk of having contracted Lyme disease, which is key to effective treatment and avoiding false positives. “Our sampling of tick populations at hundreds of sites suggests that any diagnosis of Lyme disease in most of the South should be put in serious doubt, unless it involves someone who has traveled to an area where the disease is common,” Diuk-Wasser said. Folks in the South might be more likely to encounter the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum), whose bite can be easy to confuse with an infected deer tick bite because it can also cause a rash that resembles the telltale Lyme disease “bull’s eye.” Such cases could result in mis-diagnosis with Lyme disease.

    And then they go on to say this

    Lab tests are more likely to produce false-positive results in areas where Lyme disease is not endemic, the researchers noted. And with some 2.7 million tests for Lyme disease in the U.S. a year, false positives are a concern for patient safety.

    The plain and simple fact is that lyme disease does occur outside the red zones on the map; I know for a fact I picked up lyme in the green area. What the first paragraph is basically saying is that if a patient shows possible signs of lyme disease, but hasn't left the state, any state that is in the green on that map, then it gives doctors reason to believe the symptoms are NOT that of lyme disease. I know it doesn't say that, per se, but that's how many doctor will read it.

  17. #17
    Flip flop, flip flopping' LASHin' 2000 miler
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    Quote Originally Posted by john gault View Post
    The plain and simple fact is that lyme disease does occur outside the red zones on the map; I know for a fact I picked up lyme in the green area. What the first paragraph is basically saying is that if a patient shows possible signs of lyme disease, but hasn't left the state, any state that is in the green on that map, then it gives doctors reason to believe the symptoms are NOT that of lyme disease. I know it doesn't say that, per se, but that's how many doctor will read it.
    When you dig into the clinical evaluation guidelines for determining if a doctor ought to treat for Lyme, one of the standards is whether the place where the patient was bitten has a high incidence of Lyme ... One might have to shop for doctors, or find someone who can get Doxycyclene from Mexico cheap.

    Hey swjohnsey, buddy!
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  18. #18

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    Shelter mice carry shelter ticks (white-footed deer mouse carries deer ticks). A number of years back someone was putting permethrin treated cotton balls in shelters so the mice would use it for bedding and kill the ticks. Haven't heard anything about that in 10 years or so (nor do I make it a habit to sleep in shelters any longer). If I sleep in a shelter I hang my hammock (only when there's room, and when the weather's unusually bad). I try to keep my carcass off of the floor.
    As I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn back from his way and live. Ezekiel 33:11

  19. #19
    Registered User swjohnsey's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ChillyWilly View Post
    When you dig into the clinical evaluation guidelines for determining if a doctor ought to treat for Lyme, one of the standards is whether the place where the patient was bitten has a high incidence of Lyme ... One might have to shop for doctors, or find someone who can get Doxycyclene from Mexico cheap.

    Hey swjohnsey, buddy!
    My understanding is that where Lyme disease a common doctors don't even test if you are showing symptoms but just start you on doxycyclene. I got sick in PA near Harrisburg. They tested me for Lyme disease three or four times and started me on doxycyclene before the results came back. Came back negative for Lyme and they took me off it. Turns out I had something called anaplasmoisis, also tick borne, also treated with doxycyclene.

    I have some extra.

  20. #20

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    Lyme has been documented in all 50 US states. Migrating birds transport ticks from as far north as Canada and as far south as South America. Map or no map, you can become infected anywhere.

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