Why might Lyme disease never go away?

Find Out Why Lyme Disease Might Not Ever Go Away

Lyme disease is a curable ailment. In fact, if caught in the early stages, it can be cured within a few weeks’ time. Even so, Lyme infection can result in a chronic condition. Not everyone afflicted with Lyme disease will be cured.

Lyme disease might never go away — Lyme infection can result in a chronic condition.

Why Lyme Disease Might Not Ever Go Away

There are millions of people who have been diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease. However, there is no way of knowing how many people today are carriers, who never got sick. This is because many people never show symptoms of the infection in the first place. A study conducted by the CDC found that only 33% of infected people reported experiencing a single symptom.

Signs and symptoms of Lyme disease

A red bull’s eye rash that expands and fades after a few weeks.
A flu-like headache.
A fever that can feel like a mild infection.
A swollen and migratory joint pain.
Tingling and numbness in the hands, feet and/or other parts of the body.
Fatigue and memory loss.

Treating Lyme disease: What to do

People with early-stage Lyme disease can be treated with antibiotics.
People who experience persistent symptoms after antibiotic treatment can be treated again.
People who experience long-term symptoms, such as fatigue or joint pain, should seek medical help right away.

Tick control is key to Lyme disease prevention

Avoiding ticks is the best way to avoid contracting any tick-borne illness. At home, professional tick control through periodic barrier protection sprays, will help you avoid ticks.

Prevent ticks from attaching to your skin by using insect repellent and wearing protective clothing.
Inspect your body for ticks after being outdoors, and remove them as soon as you see them.
Keep your yard mowed so that ticks have fewer places to hide.
Prevent mice and other rodents from entering your home.
Prevent your pets from bringing in ticks.

What to do if you’re bitten by a tick

Remove the tick as soon as possible.
Wash the bite area with soap and water.
Seek medical attention if symptoms worsen, such as a fever, joint pain, rash, or severe fatigue.

Dave Macchia, tick control enthusiast — Dave Macchia, Central Mass tick control enthusiast

What is This Tick with a White Dot?

Imagine taking advantage of beautiful autumn weather, out in nature…and you find a tick.

This tick is not the “typical” type you find in Massachusetts. Deer ticks are plentiful here, but this is not a deer tick. What is this tick with a white dot? The tick you have found is a Lone Star tick. The good news is, it does not carry Lyme disease bacteria.

A tick with a white dot is a Lone Star tick

Is this tick with a white dot dangerous?

While Lyme disease is only passed by the deer tick, also commonly called black-legged tick, the Lone Star tick can also make you sick. This tiny blood sucker is responsible for ehrlichiosis, tularemia, and southern tick-associated rash illness, also known as STARI. Tularemia can run rampant through rabbits and rodents, killing them in large numbers. For humans, tularemia can cause swollen lymph nodes, eye inflammation, mouth sores, sore throat, and even pneumonia. Ehrlichiosis can present in humans with symptoms that mimic flu. These symptoms include fever, muscle pain, headache, and stomach upset. STARI has similar symptoms, but can also include an elliptical shaped skin rash at the bite site within a week or so after the bite occurs.

There are two other points of interest about encounters with a tick with a white dot.

As with a bite from any insect or parasite, a skin infection can occur. It is important that you wash your tick bite with warm water and soap as quickly as possible. You can follow up with a bit of rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab. Generally, a skin infection is not the immediate fear after a tick bite.

A bite from a Lone Star tick can cause a lifelong allergy to red meat, called Alpha-Gal syndrome.
Lone Star tick saliva is known to cause redness and irritation at the bite. This does not necessarily indicate infection, and typically goes away in a short time.

Protect your health and home with Grafton tick control.

As with most tick-borne illnesses, the best course of action is tick bite prevention. Out in nature, we must wear long pants and sleeves, and perform tick checks when we return home. At home, professional Grafton tick control companies can help keep ticks away.

Is Deer Overpopulation Responsible for More Deer Ticks?

When you think of a deer population, you may picture majestic creatures peacefully grazing in fields or forests.

However, there is another side to a deer population that often goes unnoticed. Deer overpopulation can cause many problems for the land where the animals reside, and for humans who come into contact with them. Overcrowded deer can lead to more ticks. In this article we will discuss what causes deer overpopulation and why it can cause more ticks.

Is deer overpopulation responsible for more deer ticks?

What is Deer Overpopulation?

Deer overpopulation is the term given to when there are more deer than the land can sustain. Too many deer can cause many problems for both deer and humans. When deer are overpopulated in a given region, they compete with other animals for food and can compete with farmers for safe pastures. Where deer are overpopulated, there can be increased risk for drivers vs. deer encounters.

Why Does Deer Overpopulation Cause More Ticks?

Deer are host to many different parasites that can infect other animals, including humans. Deer are hosts to a variety of tick species. These parasites can infect both humans and domestic animals such as cattle and horses. The deer tick is native to the Eastern United States, but has now spread westward into the Great Plains and California. It stands to reason, the more plentiful the tick hosts, the more plentiful the tick populations. If deer find their way onto your property, they can carry ticks with them.

Merrimack Tick Control Methods Don’t Include Controlling Deer Populations

There are a number of recommendations for controlling deer populations. From providing more food sources, to eliminating competitors of food sources, to eliminating deer populations with hunting. Your best bet for controlling the number of ticks on your property does not involve controlling the deer population around your home. It’s about controlling the ticks. This is because ticks feed on many other species, including the white footed mouse, the biggest spreader of Lyme infection.

At-home Merrimack tick control should be employed from April all the way through October in the Northeastern United States. This is because adult deer ticks are scrounging for their final blood meal before bedding down for winter. Tick control is deployed in two manners. One is by barrier protection spray. This method is commonly used in the springtime and summer. When autumn is afoot, tick tubes are the preferred tick control method. These tubes contain treated cotton that mice carry to their nests, which will eliminate ticks and their offspring without harming the mice. Ultimately, this level of tick control results in fewer ticks emerging in the springtime.

Why We Need to Know About the Asian Long-Horned Tick

The Asian long-horned tick has reportedly made its way to Northern Missouri, as recently reported on Successful Farming’s website.

The Asian long-horned tick has the potential to wreak havoc on animals and humans. These ticks are not as famous as other ticks that transmit disease, such as the deer tick, but their potential to spread disease makes them a worthy adversary. Livestock owners are taking heed, as these nasty ticks pose a threat to herds, known as bovine theileriosis. Here are more reasons you should know about these ticks.

Asian long-horned ticks pose a threat to animals and humans.

Asian Long-Horned Ticks Can Spread Serious Diseases

The Asian long-horned ticks can spread a number of diseases, including Parvovirus B19. The B19 virus is a serious concern because it can lead to flu-like symptoms that can result in death in rare cases.

They Have a Rapid Reproduction Cycle

Asian long-horned ticks have a rapid reproduction cycle and large populations are expected to grow throughout the United States. Once a host is infected with a tick, it takes about three to four weeks for the tick to go from egg to adult. The ticks have a one-week feeding period, where they can live on their host for up to five days without feeding. After feeding, the ticks have a three- to four-week developmental period, after which they’ll drop off their host and mate, resulting in eggs that hatch into larvae. This means that ticks can quickly overpopulate areas and spread to other animals and hosts.

They Are Host-dependent on Several Species

Asian long-horned ticks are host-dependent, which means they only live on specific hosts and cannot survive without them. Asian long-horned ticks are found on a number of animals and can thrive in a variety of environments. These ticks can be found on a variety of livestock, including pigs, goats, and cattle, but they also feed on humans and companion animals, like dogs and cats. This can lead to an increase in tick-borne disease, especially in areas where the ticks are new to the ecosystem and have not been able to build up resistance to disease.

They Are Small and Easy to Miss

Asian long-horned ticks are small and have a dark color, which makes them easy to miss. Therefore, it is important to regularly examine your pets and yourself for signs of ticks. When you check your skin for ticks, start at your shoes and work your way up your legs and torso. This will make it easier to inspect your skin and will help you spot the ticks sooner. When you’re checking your pets, start at their feet and make your way up their legs, torso, and head.

The Tick Has Been Found in New Areas of the United States

Aside from the newest finding in Missouri, the Asian long-horned tick has been found in new areas of the United States, such as Florida, Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. While the tick is not currently established in these areas, it has the potential to spread and become a major problem if it is not controlled. The tick has seen an increase in the rate at which it is spreading, with populations expanding in range and increasing in density in areas where the tick is already found. This means that the Asian long-horned tick is a threat to the United States and that researchers need to take the tick seriously.

Weymouth Tick Control for Tick and Tick-Borne Illness Protection

For protection against any and all ticks here in Massachusetts, I urge you to call on the experts. Reputable Weymouth tick control providers will offer solutions for protecting your home and family not simply in the warm weather months, but all year long!

The Truth Behind Fall Tick Bites

Even if you don’t live in a heavily wooded area, the coming of cooler, drier fall weather means that the fall tick season has begun.

But even if you’re vigilant about checking yourself and your family after time spent outside, you might still get bitten by a tick. So, what do you need to know about ticks and tick bites? As any camper who spent time in the woods knows, ticks can transmit diseases such as Lyme disease to people and animals. In fact, from 2004 to 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the incidence of reported tick-borne diseases tripled in the U.S. In this blog post, I’ll explore some of the reasons why this is happening — and what you can do to reduce your risk of contracting one of these diseases.

fall tick bites — Tick bites can happen, even in the fall.

What’s causing the rise in tick-borne diseases?

Researchers have been unable to pinpoint a single reason for the spike in tick-borne illnesses. Instead, it seems that a confluence of factors has contributed to the tick population’s growth and spread. One factor that may have contributed to the uptick in tick-borne diseases, like Lyme disease, is an increase in the number of people living in wooded areas. As suburbs encroach on formerly wooded areas, more people are likely to come into contact with ticks.

Why are tick bites so prevalent today?

One reason tick bites are so prevalent right now is that people are checking themselves less often. In a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, researchers found that the number of participants who self-checked for ticks decreased from 72% to just 46% between 1985 and 2017. That’s despite the fact that ticks are growing in number, are about twice as large as they were 30 years ago and are now carrying more diseases than ever. Finally, warmer temperatures have allowed ticks to survive and thrive in areas in which they had previously died off.

What can you do to protect yourself from tick bites?

It’s important to take precautions to protect yourself and your family from tick bites. And you should be extra vigilant during the fall tick season. Start by wearing long pants and long-sleeved shirts whenever you’re outdoors. Ticks are often found in wooded areas, at the edges of trails and in tall grass. Once you’re outside, check your whole body for ticks. And be sure to check your child’s entire body, too. Perform a full-body tick check using a hands-on approach: Kids should check themselves for ticks by using the back of their hands to feel for ticks along their heads, ears and backs, and then carefully examining their bodies using a mirror. Remember to focus on the parts of the body where ticks commonly latch on to people — namely, the back of the thighs, behind the knees, the armpits and hairline.

Why should you continue tick control through fall and winter?

While ticks are more prevalent in the spring and summer, they’re still around in the fall — and winter, too. In fact, CDC research has found that ticks are active in every month of the year in every region of the U.S. Even though ticks are less active in winter, they’re still around and may bite as they wait for warmer weather. Plus, they’re also less likely to be discovered and removed, increasing the risk of infection. That’s why it’s important to continue to be vigilant about tick control through fall and winter. Apply tick repellents to clothing, especially pants and shoes. Perform daily tick checks — especially on children, who are less likely to notice a tick bite than an adult would. And regularly use a tick removal tool to safely remove any ticks you find.

Shrewsbury tick control is for all seasons.

You need year-round tick protection and there are companies, who can provide it. Reputable Shrewsbury tick control professionals can deploy tick control tubes this time of year, and actually decrease the number of ticks around your home next spring. Protection for now – and protection for later, all in one treatment!

Unspoken Truths About Lyme Disease

Lyme disease is purported to have claimed a life and it’s not how you might think.

Is Lyme disease fatal? Last week, a parent in Canada spoke about his daughter’s death. After suffering for years with what was originally un-diagnosed Lyme disease, Amelie Champagne took her own life. Her father says that Amelie’s eventual positive Lyme diagnosis came too late, as the disease had ravaged her body and mind. He credits the severe impact on Amelie’s brain resulted in her suicide at the age of 22.

Lyme disease is often misdiagnosed and not diagnosed at all.

As we well know, Lyme disease can result in maladies of the body and mind. Well-known cases, such as those of Kris Kristofferson and Justin Bieber shone a light on the condition. Mr. Kristofferson suffered for more than a decade with undiagnosed Lyme disease, and was misdiagnosed with Fibromyalgia and dementia. Joint pain and degradation of mental capacity are both Lyme symptoms. Justin, also a Canadian, released a statement in 2020, in which he said that Lyme had negatively affected his, “brain function, energy, and overall health.”

Is Lyme disease fatal if it is the cause for suffering that results in suicide?

Lyme disease is fatal if it affects someone’s body and brain so negatively that it leads to them taking their own life. Even though the infection does not kill, the effects of the disease surely take their toll. And while there is a growing awareness of Lyme disease, this is a case of the quiet parts being said aloud. More awareness about the effects of the infection must be made. Sadly, Lyme disease is treatable when it is diagnosed early. For a variety of reasons, the CDC believes that there are up to 10 times more cases of Lyme in the United States that what is actually documented.

Lyme disease can happen any time of year.

If you have been outdoors and have knowingly or unknowingly encountered a deer tick, you are at risk for Lyme infection. The risk is not relegated only to the springtime and summer. While nymph ticks are busying about in search of their blood meals in the springtime, adult ticks are equally as active in the fall. What’s more, if the temperatures are steadily above 45 degrees in the winter, ticks can quest for blood. Therefore, we must keep check on ourselves, our kids, and our pets after being outdoors any warm day – in any season.

Tick protection and control tips:

Wear long sleeves and pants outdoors
Perform a full-body tick check after being outdoors
Wear clothing treated with permethrin when hiking or camping
Call on the experts for Grafton tick control to protect your property all year long

Lyme Disease Vaccine Update, Fall 2022

Lyme disease vaccine trials are ongoing in the fall of 2022.

What is the latest news on the Lyme disease vaccine? Jane Caffrey reports that there are new steps in the fight against Lyme disease. Both Pfizer and Valneva are conducting a clinical trial for a Lyme Disease vaccine, and it is now in phase three.

Lyme disease vaccine trials still underway.

Where are these Lyme disease vaccine trials?

Research is happening in neighboring Connecticut, at Stamford Health in Fairfield County. About 6,000 people across the globe are taking part in the study, and that includes 20 at Stamford Hospital.

“Last year, my 7-year-old actually got Lyme disease,” Zain Hoda explained. A side effect known as Lyme arthritis sent their son Reza to the hospital. “We have two kids and my wife had to stay home with one of them,” Zain Hoda said. “So it was just me in the hospital with my son for five days.”

It was a very traumatic experience for the young boy because he had to have surgery after his knee got infected. So by participating in the vaccine trial, the family wants to prevent something like this from happening again or to someone else. This is why they will be rolling up their sleeves for the next two-and-a-half years, taking part in the global clinical trial being conducted in places where Lyme disease is highly endemic, like Connecticut.

Read: Why is Lyme disease on the rise?

Dr. Michael Parry, chair of Infectious Diseases at Stamford Health, said, “When it becomes late in the course and hasn’t been aggressively treated upfront, Lyme Disease can produce all sorts of problems including:

Neurological Disease
Heart Disease
Prolonged Fatigue
Brain Fog”

As for how the Lyme Disease vaccine trial regimen works, each participant will receive four doses over the next 30 months. Some will get the new vaccine, while others will receive a placebo. “We will be following them with history, clinical symptoms, evidence of Lyme disease, blood tests, to evaluate how well this vaccine protects them against Lyme disease,” Dr. Parry said.

How long might a Lyme disease vaccine take to be approved?

He says if the clinical trial is successful, the timeline for when regulators would look at approving the vaccine would be in 2026 or 2027. “If a vaccine is 80 to 90 percent protective, it still would be a huge advance in the prevention of Lyme disease,” Dr. Parry said.

Researchers at Stamford Hospital are still seeking more pediatric participants, so they can gather enough data about how this vaccine works for kids. Participants for this study must be at least 5 years old.

For more information, the office of Dr. Parry can be reached at Stamford Health Medical Group, 29 Hospital Plaza, Suite 605, Stamford, CT 06902.

Avoiding Ticks is Not as Clear-cut as Before

To avoid tick bites, stay away from forested areas or be equipped to deal with them.

Unfortunately, ticks are showing up in places previously deemed safe from the disease-carrying arachnids, from our coastal beach areas to manicured lawns. As their population increases, the sheer number of ticks may be forcing them to branch out into new habitats this autumn, like your landscape, especially if you have an abundance of tall grasses and leaf debris.

Avoiding ticks is essential for your family's health. — Avoiding ticks is essential for your family’s health.

Each year, about 30,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported to the CDC by state health departments.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s (MDPH) Syndromic Surveillance program electronically collects limited information on patient visits to hospital emergency departments (ED) across the Commonwealth.

The reported data allows the Department to track trends for certain types of ED visits. This report provides monthly updates on two visit types, tick exposures, where a patient reports an exposure to ticks, and tick-borne disease, where the patient is discharged with a diagnosis of a tick-borne disease.

Also read: Are ticks more dangerous than fleas?

Because not everyone exposed to ticks or with a tick-borne disease will be seen in an ED, this data does not show all patients with tick-borne diseases in Massachusetts. More information about tick-borne diseases and how to prevent them is available at www.mass.gov/dph/tick.

Tick Exposure Visits and Tick-Borne Disease Visits

The graphs shows that in August of 2022, less than 0.3% of visits to EDs in any week were related to exposure to ticks, while less than 0.2% of visits to EDs in any week were related to diagnosis of a tick-borne disease.

tick data — Tick encounters and disease data.

The 2022 data are shown compared to both the minimum and the maximum number of visits recorded over the last three years. While tick activity usually increases in Spring and early Summer and then again in the Fall, exact timing is dependent on weather.

Tick-Borne Diseases in Central Mass

Ticks are bugs that feed on the blood of mammals, birds, or reptiles. Black-legged deer ticks and dog ticks are found throughout Massachusetts and may spread different disease-causing germs when they bite you.

In addition to Lyme disease, the most common tick-borne diseases here are Babesiosis, and Anaplasmosis. Other diseases that are more rare, but still occur, are Tularemia, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Borrelia miyamotoi, and Powassan virus.

Tick-borne illnesses can be very severe, avoiding ticks is essential.

One of the most important things you can do is check yourself for ticks once a day when outdoors. Remember to check your children and pets, too. Remove any attached ticks as soon as possible. Check yourself, your children and your pets for ticks especially in these areas after coming inside:

Inside and behind the ears
Along your hairline
Back of your neck
Armpits
Groin
Legs
Behind your knees
Between your toes

When going outside to an area likely to have ticks:

Stick to main pathways and the center of trails when hiking.
Wear a light-colored, long-sleeved shirt with long pants and tuck your pants into your socks.
This may be difficult to do when the weather is hot, but it will help keep ticks away from your skin and make it easier to spot a tick on your clothing.
Use bug repellents. Repellents that contain DEET can be used on your exposed skin. Permethrin is a product that can be used on your clothes. Always follow the product instructions and use repellents with no more than 30-35% DEET on adults and 10-15% DEET on children. Never use insect repellents on infants.

Prevention is everything for avoiding ticks and the potential for disease. Enlist professional Framingham tick control.

When back at home, ensure that your exterior landscape remains free from ticks by subscribing to a tick control regimen of a regularly applied barrier spray and tick tubes.

Also read: Could you see ticks on the beach on your winter getaway??

No Tick is a Treat, Be Safe This Halloween

Don’t allow ticks safe passage this Halloween.

You know how kids are. It’s always all about the candy. Especially at this time of year, with it getting darker increasingly earlier, these little ghosties and goblins may not be paying special attention to where they are walking on their quest for edible treats. So if you have ticks hiding out in the perimeter of your home, don’t give them a free ride courtesy of the kiddies. Stop them in their tracks with fall tick control.

Tick Activity Is Picking Up, Hopkinton Tick Control is a Must

Earlier this year, WBUR News reported that experts fear climate change could extend peak seasons for tick activity. Central Massachusetts generally experiences two peaks for tick activity, according to the Department of Public Health: from late March or early April through August, and then from October to November. And with October just days away, we need to remain vigilant.

Even worse, those peaks could get longer in the future as temperatures increase due to climate change. Ticks are the ultimate freeloaders, actively looking for food unless they are buried under snow or temperatures drop below freezing. Warmer days and less snow would mean that activity starts earlier in the spring, and extends deeper into the fall and winter.

Also read: Can you bring home a tick on your Christmas tree?

“If you extend peak tick season, you could end up with more cases of disease,” State Epidemiologist Dr. Catherine Brown said, even if the tick population remains the same. “We’ve actually already seen that happen a little bit with our mosquito population … which certainly creates more opportunity for more disease transmission.”

In Massachusetts, ticks are known to be carriers of several diseases, including Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and tularemia. Different tick species spread different diseases.

There are no population-wide mitigation efforts effective for ticks the way there are for mosquitos, according to Brown, so prevention comes down to individual action.

The Department of Public Health recommends using tick repellent when outside, checking your body for ticks after spending time outdoors, and staying within established paths while hiking.

Stay safe at home and away from home with personal tick protection measures, and professional Hopkinton tick control.

What is the tick peak season in Massachusetts?

This is a common question among Massachusetts residents.

Is there a tick peak season. Well, yes. There is not only a tick peak season, but two periods of peak tick activity in Massachusetts each year. Wait, what? You read that correctly. Ticks are not simply active in the summer.

Tick peak season, take one.

Who doesn’t love the emergence of springtime? We are coming out of our winter slump, taking in warm sunshine, fresh air, and burst of flora and fauna. Ticks also love the spring! With spring’s arrival, ticks too come out of their lairs. Most notably, are the tiniest ticks – nymphs. Nigh undetectable, nymph ticks come on strong around April. They are plentiful and they are famished. Since they are so hungry, they feed on blood sources close to them, such as mice. The problem is, these same mice are common carriers of the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. Next on their menu could be you, or your child, or even your pet. Since an estimated 90% of white-footed mice in our area are carriers of Lyme bacteria, your odds of contracting Lyme infection from a nymph tick bite in the springtime is very high. Once ticks emerge in the springtime, they are quite active through the end of August in Massachusetts. Our first tick peak season is April through August.

tick peak season one - April through August — Our first tick peak season is April through August.

Tick peak season, take two.

You might think that ticks scurry away or even die after spring and summer. Such is not the case, however. Our warming climate is now supporting longer tick peak seasons and the spread of new tick species in Massachusetts. When we talk about who is hungry for blood in tick peak season two, it’s adult females. These voracious ticks are looking for a final blood meal to fertilize their tick eggs before they enter dormancy. Even though nymph ticks are the biggest spreaders of Lyme disease, you can still be infected by an adult tick after summer. It’s possible to get Lyme infection any time of year, in fact. Our second tick peak season takes place in October and November in Massachusetts.

tick peak season two - October through November — Tick peak season two is October through November in Massachusetts.

Tick control knows no season.

To combat ticks all year long, you must seek a reputable tick control company. These experts will provide you with tailored methods of protection around your home. In the first peak season, they will deploy barrier control protection. In October, they will deploy tick control tubes to fortify your year-round protection.