Tick Bites and Lyme Disease

Tick Bites

Ticks are one of the main enemies that hunters have to spend a lot of time and money combating and even then there is no 100% guarantee to keep them off you. We are going to be discussing some preventative tips along with provide some information about Lyme disease. Hopefully, this will help everyone reduce the risks of contracting this nasty disease and help prevent exposure to ticks and the numerous other diseases they carry.

Ticks generally like places that are warm and provide a degree of moisture such as the arm pits, genitalia, waist band and are commonly found on these areas of the body, especially where clothing fits tightly against the skin. Ticks can carry and transmit other diseases such as ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia.

Tick Illustrations

                                                                       Deer Tick

 

                                                                       Dog Tick

                                                                      Lone Star Tick

                    
                                                                  Tick Mouth Parts

 

Prevention

The best way to avoid getting any of these diseases is always take precautions from receiving tick bites. You can decrease your risk of getting Lyme disease with some simple precautions:

• Wear long pants and sleeves. When walking in wooded or grassy areas, wear shoes, long pants tucked into your socks, a long-sleeved shirt, a hat and gloves. Try to stick to trails and avoid walking through low bushes and long grass. Keep your dog on a leash.
• When you do have to venture into brushy and high grass areas, you need to close off as many openings and cover as much skin as possible. You can use duct tape to seal off your pant leg openings and shoes, tuck you shirt in and then tape around your belt line, and you can wear gloves with you long sleeve shirt and seal them off with tape as well. It may not look the best, but it works very well.
• Use insect repellents. Apply an insect repellent with a 10 to 30 percent concentration of DEET to your skin and clothing. Choose the concentration based on the hours of protection you need — the higher the concentration of DEET, the longer you are protected. A 10 percent concentration protects you for about two hours. Keep in mind that chemical repellents can be toxic, and use only the amount needed for the time you'll be outdoors. Don't use DEET on the hands of young children or on infants younger than age 2 months. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, oil of lemon eucalyptus, a more natural product, offers the same protection as DEET when used in similar concentrations. Don't use this product on children younger than 3 years. Regular insect repellents do not always offer adequate protection against ticks and fleas.
• Do your best to tick-proof your yard. Clear brush and leaves where ticks live. Keep woodpiles in sunny areas.
• Check yourself, your children and your pets for ticks. Be especially vigilant after spending time in wooded or grassy areas. Deer ticks are often no bigger than the head of a pin, so you may not discover them unless you search carefully. It's helpful to shower as soon as you come indoors. Ticks often remain on your skin for hours before attaching themselves. Showering and using a washcloth may be enough to remove any unattached ticks.
• Don't assume you're immune. Even if you've had Lyme disease before, you can get it again.
• Remove a tick with tweezers. Gently grasp the tick near its head or mouth. Don't squeeze or crush the tick, but pull carefully and steadily. Once you've removed the entire tick, dispose of it and apply antiseptic to the bite area. Tick head and mouth parts can remain embedded in the skin and increase the chances of infections. If possible, heat the tweezer ends and carefully grasp the tick so that you do not burn yourself. This will generally cause the tick to let go and remove the mouth parts from your skin.

Lyme disease Symptoms

STAGE 1:

The first stage of Lyme disease is called early Lyme disease. Early Lyme disease usually causes one or more of the following symptoms that occur days to weeks after infection.

·         Fatigue (chronic tired feeling)  and weakness

·         Chills and Fever

·         Headache

·         Muscle and Joint pain

·         Swollen Lymph Nodes

·         Erythema Migrans

·         Dizziness or Fainting

·         Stiff neck

·         General ill feeling (the feeling that the flu gives you)

·         Body wide itching

Erythema migrans: The skin rash associated with Lyme disease occurs as a circular rash that continues to grow. It may appear anywhere from 1 day to 1 month after the infected tick's bite, but it usually appears in about 7 days. The center of the rash may clear as it grows giving it the appearance of a bull's-eye. The rash may be warm, but it is usually not painful. Sometimes, the rash includes many red patches that appear in different shapes and sizes around the body. The erythema migrans type of skin rash is different from a rash that appears as an allergic reaction to a tick or insect bite. Such reactions to a bite usually appear as redness within hours to 1 day after a bite, do not grow, and disappear within a day or two. Erythema migrans does not occur in some patients with Lyme disease. 

STAGE 2:
The second stage of Lyme disease is known as early disseminated Lyme disease, which means that the infection of bacteria is beginning to spread and is affecting certain body functions. This stage occurs weeks to months after the bite of an infected tick. Problems can include:

• Numbness and pain in arms or legs
• Paralysis of facial muscles (usually on one side of the face called bells palsy)
• Meningitis—fever, stiff neck, and severe headaches
• Abnormal heart beat (rare)

STAGE 3:

The third stage of Lyme disease is called late (or chronic) Lyme disease. This stage can occur weeks, months, or even years after infection in patients who either never received antibiotic treatment for early Lyme disease or whose treatment did not kill all of the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. Patients with late Lyme disease may get:

• Chronic Lyme arthritis—brief bouts of pain and swelling usually occurring in one or more of the large joints, especially the knees
• Nervous system problems, including memory loss and difficulty concentrating, vision problems, various other neurological disorders
• Chronic pain in muscles
• Numbness
• Sleep problems
• Nerve damage
• Memory disorders

BLOOD TESTS

Blood tests, also known as Lyme titers, cannot diagnose Lyme disease alone, but they are used to confirm a diagnosis. The most common blood test ordered for Lyme disease is the ELISA, with the western blot used as a follow-up test. The ELISA tests for antibodies, the body's defense system against infections; it does not test for the bacteria itself. These antibodies may take up to 2 to 6 weeks after infection to appear in the blood. Therefore, a blood test immediately following a tick bite will not be able to determine whether or not a person has been infected since not enough time has passed for antibodies to develop.
Other bacterial infections and diseases may cause an ELISA to be positive when, in fact, the patient does not have Lyme disease. Therefore, the Western Blot, a more accurate test that can be used 6 to 12 weeks after infection, is recommended to confirm all positive or equivocal ELISA results. However, if symptoms and history strongly suggest Lyme disease, a doctor may begin treatment without blood test confirmation. Note that frequent testing without symptoms that suggest infection, even in endemic areas, increases the chance of a test result being positive when a person is not actually infected with Lyme disease.
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) - This test helps detect bacterial DNA in fluid drawn from an infected joint. It's not as effective at detecting infection of blood or urine. It's used for people who may have chronic Lyme arthritis. It may also be used to detect persistent infection in the cerebrospinal fluid of people who have nervous system symptoms.

TREATMENT:


Medications
 
Oral antibiotics
Oral antibiotics are the standard treatment for early-stage Lyme disease. These usually include Doxycycline for adults and children older than 8, or amoxicillin or Cefuroxime for adults, younger children, and pregnant or breast-feeding women. These drugs often clear the infection and prevent complications. A 14- to 21-day course of antibiotics is usually recommended, but some studies suggest that courses lasting 10 to 14 days are equally effective. 

Intravenous antibiotics
If the disease has progressed, your doctor may recommend treatment with an intravenous antibiotic for 14 to 28 days. This is effective in eliminating infection, although it may take some time to recover symptomatically. Intravenous antibiotics can cause various side effects, including a lower white blood cell count, mild to severe diarrhea, or colonization or infection with other antibiotic resistant organisms unrelated to Lyme.
After treatment, a small number of people still experience some symptoms, such as muscle aches and fatigue. The cause of these continuing symptoms is unknown, but extended antibiotic treatment doesn't make them go away. Some experts believe that certain people who get Lyme disease are predisposed to develop an autoimmune response that contributes to their symptoms. More research is needed. 

Avoid Bismacine
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns consumers and health care providers to avoid Bismacine, an injectable compound prescribed by some alternative medicine practitioners to treat Lyme disease. Bismacine, also known as Chromacine, contains high levels of the metal bismuth. Although bismuth is safely used in some oral medications for digestive conditions, it's not approved for use in injectable form or as a treatment for Lyme disease. Bismacine can cause bismuth poisoning, which may lead to heart and kidney failure.