I,ve been talking to a deer stalking friend of mine who tells me that Squirrels are host to a tick that causes Lyme disease in humans. Anyone know anything about this over there? Allan.
Most ticks are capable of carrying Lyme's disease and many others like rocky mountain fever, tick typhus, STARI, etc, etc. The best may to prevent it is wearing proper clothes while out in the field. Matter of fact I just got a tick on me the other day while out in the field. Course, I picked it up not from the squirrel but sitting on the ground waiting for the bird to get done eating. The only thing you can do is remove tick as early as possible to help prevent transmisson(they say the longer it stays in the better chance of transmitting disease). Remove it properly(tweezers or special tool) and disinfect bite area making sure that head parts were all removed. Mark down date of bite and wait to for any signs or symtoms. If caught early many of the diseases are very treatable. Oh, tell your friend that the deer tick is probally the biggest carrier of Lyme's-Zach
Last Edit: Nov 24, 2004 4:09:04 GMT -5 by Tiercel78
I used to think i knew some things. But i'm not so sure anymore.
Post by BlueTiercel on Nov 24, 2004 9:44:41 GMT -5
My uncle has had Lyme Disease and my falconer buddy has had it twice. Now in november i have gotten more deer ticks on me than i did all summer. WEirdness, no more wood ticks though.
"every dream you keep inside, another part of you has died"
What are the symptoms to watch out for.....? I,ve never heard about this before. Is being regularly topped up with a Tetanus injection any help...? Cheers Allan. PS...another 2 squirrels on the weekend..
Symptoms: Deer ticks can be so small that they are almost impossible to see. Therefore, many people with Lyme disease never even saw a tick. These people are more likely to develop symptoms because the tick remained on their body longer.
The symptoms of Lyme disease include:
a flat or slightly raised red lesion at the site of the tick bite expansion of the red lesion (rash) to several inches over several days. The rash usually will clear in the center, creating an annular rash, looking somewhat like a bull's eye. fever headache lethargy muscle pains and aches joint aches swollen glands, either near the rash or all over the body
I used to think i knew some things. But i'm not so sure anymore.
With the first few months of use of SmithKIine Beecham's Lyme disease vaccine (LYMErix) has come much confusion about its proper use. To keep pharmacists well informed about this new vaccine, Pharmacy Today consulted with John Grabenstein, pharmacist and nationally renowned immunization expert at the University of North Carolina Schools of Pharmacy and Public Health, to develop this list of facts and myths about Lyme disease vaccines. (Detailed product information specific to LYMErix was published in the February issue of Pharmacy Today.)
Fact: All three shots are needed for for effectiveness of the vaccine. In the pivotal clinical trials that led to LYMErix's approval, the risk of contracting Lyme disease was reduced by 49% after two shots but by 78% after the full, three-dose, one-year series. Another Lyme disease vaccine under development, Pasteur-Merieux Connaught's ImuLyme, reduced risk by 68% after two doses and 92% after three doses, although the studies were performed differently and the two products have not been directly compared.
LYMErix is a genetically engineered vaccine that contains lipoprotein OspA, an outer surface protein of the causative Lyme disease bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi. A novel hypothesis has been proposed to explain the effectiveness of lipoprotein OspA vaccination: when infected ticks bite humans who have been vaccinated with LYMErix, the vaccine-induced antibodies are taken up by the tick and interact with the Borrelia burgdorferi in the midgut of the tick, thereby preventing transmission of the organism to the host For this reason, antibody titers in the patient are critically important for protection against Lyme disease.
Myth: It's best to start Lyme disease vaccine shots in the spring. As a result of media reports this spring proclaiming the "Lyme disease season" many people have incorrectly concluded that Lyme disease vaccination should be an annual rite, similar to getting flu shots in the fall.
This is incorrect because there is little seasonal difference in the prevalence of Lyme disease. Anytime is a good time to start the three-shot regimen for patients who are exposed to ticks in high-risk areas. While people's increased outdoor activities in the spring and summer increase their exposure to bites, ticks feed year- round. The relative seasonal activities of the prime reservoir-competent hosts of Lyme disease—white-tailed deer and white-footed mice in the East and dusky wood and kangaroo rats in the West—also play into the risk of exposure. In fact, as noted in the February Pharmacy Today, winter is the "season" for Lyme disease in the West, for unexplained reasons. The safest general advice for people at high risk is to begin the three-shot series immediately, especially since it takes one year to complete.
Research is continuing on two accelerated dosing schedules for people at high risk of Lyme disease, which would further increase the flexibility of starting the regimen at any time during the year. In studies reported last fall at infectious disease specialty meetings, researchers reported that 2-and 6-month dosing schedules provided comparable antibody responses, as did the original 12-month trial.
Unknown at this point is the need for booster shots. SmithKIine Beecham is following patients from the pivotal trial to determine when additional LYMErix injections are needed. The company hopes to provide advice about boosters before 2000, when most people who started their series in 1999 would receive the third and final shot.
Fact: Most tick bites that lead to Lyme disease occur at home. While occupational and recreational exposures certainly account for some cases of Lyme disease, Grabenstein notes in an article in the January/February issue of the Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association that "most tick bites leading to borreliosis infections are believed to occur on residential property." Wherever a person is active in wooded, grassy areas of high-prevalence regions, the risk of picking up an infected tick is greater.
Grabenstein also notes important regional differences in incidence of Lyme disease in that article. Using state maps, he demonstrates that the county-to-county incidence is quite variable, even in the states affected most by Lyme disease (in order of incidence, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Wisconsin, Vermont, New Hampshire). Within the coastal states on this list, Lyme disease is more prevalent near the ocean, while selected counties near the Minnesota-Wisconsin border have a higher incidence of the disease.
Myth: Snow skiers in the West should be vaccinated against Lyme disease. Even though Lyme disease is more prevalent— especially in Northern California—during the winter, snow skiers are rarely exposed to wooded or grassy areas where ticks from the host rats might be present. In arid areas of the West, the common western fence lizard is a reservoir-incompetent host of Lyme disease, meaning that it actually reduces the number of Borrelia spirochetes present in the tick. Combined with a lack of wooded areas in arid climates, the lizard (which is more active in the summer and hibernates in climates with cold winters) helps to produce an extremely low prevalence of Lyme disease in states such as Nevada and Arizona and may contribute to lower incidence during the summer.
—L. Michael Posey copyright 1999 www.lymerix.com - website for company that produces this vaccine
I used to think i knew some things. But i'm not so sure anymore.
It would be nice if all replies could be as accurate and precise as yours Zach...... It,ll take me a few readings of this to digest it all....! Good luck and Good Hawking. Allan.
Lyme disease can be nasty stuff. I was born in Eastern europe and go back there almost every summer. The area where I go is one of Europe's hotspots for ticks, last figures I heard was that from 1/3 to 1/5 ticks there carry a disease, usually Lyme or meningitis. If you live in a hotspot, the best thing you can do to protect yourself is always wear clothes with long sleeves, tie long hair back and wear a hat, wear light-coloured, clean clothing (sweaty smell is apparently attractive to ticks as well as some other biting bugs). I foudn that ticks usually take a while to find a nice spot on your body and bite in, so when you get home change your clothes (leave them for a while on the porch or somethign) and maybe even take a shower. Check yourself over in the mirror, looking for any small black spots. All of this is a big hassel, I don't do all this when I go hawking here (canada) simply because I've never seen a tic here. In Europe however I do it every time I do some walking through tall grass or the forest. When I was there last summer I pulled out just over 20 ticks off the family's dog, I think I found all of them. A month later I pulled off another 15 or so... so lots of ticks there. And its true, the sooner you remove it the better. Apparently if you remove it PROPERLY (with the head, and quickly, without stressing the tick which might cause it to release its infected "spit") within15 to 17 hours chances are very good you will not get infected even if the tick was carrying the disease.
8-)Not to sound like an expert but I have read ticks will wait on your body for 2-10 days before bitting you so if they don't get washed off in the shower than you will probably see them later. Also not to bearer of bad news but if you hunt with dogs there are two other tick carried diseases they can contract and possibly spread to you (I have found ticks are usually only found around the ears on th dogs). Also does any one know if the birds can contract any diseases from wild game?