Tag: Lyme Disease Central MA

Hello, May. Hello, Lyme Disease Awareness Month!

Central Mass Lyme disease prevention is critical, and that is not figurative language. Literally critical – urgent – dire!

May is a beautiful time of year in Central Mass, and with the warm weather folks begin to spend more time outdoors with their families. We begin to work in the yard, host cook-outs, and spend mild evenings relaxing on our back patios. Many across the U.S. get moving for the cause of Lyme disease. 5K runs in the name of Lyme? Yes, it’s that important! Why? See the trailer below for the critically acclaimed documentary, Under Our Skin!

See more about Under Our Skin.

In honor of Lyme Disease Awareness Month, I would like to cover some important aspects of Lyme.

Lyme Disease Symptoms

Lyme Disease rash

An estimated 30% to 80% of Lyme patients will develop a rash related to the disease. The bullseye rash is most commonly associated, but did you know that other rashes can be associated with Lyme? Did you know that some patients don’t develop a rash at all? In a CDC report, more than 40% of Lyme Carditis patients did not have Lyme related rash. Early symptoms include: fever, chills, nausea, sweating, and joint pain.

Read about 3 steps to determine your Lyme disease risk after you have been bitten by a tick.

Children and Lyme

Central Mass tick protection is critical for your child

Detecting Lyme disease in your child might be difficult, as symptoms can present behaviorally, without a prevalence of sickness symptoms. Children with Lyme can have insomnia, difficulty communicating thoughts, fatigue, short attention span, and severe mood swings. Because children as susceptible to tick bites, it is essential that you hire a licensed tick control company to spray your yard, your child’s playground. Check your child each day for ticks or tick bites, and if you find evidence of either, follow these tick removal instructions, and be vigilant in watching for symptoms, including those mentioned above.

Pets and Lyme

Your pets are also extremely susceptible to ticks and tick bites. They too, can get Lyme disease. In addition to tick protection for your yard, please check your dogs, cats, and horses for ticks regularly, and watch for symptoms, such as lethargy, and unexplained limping.

Check out this video to learn how to properly check your pet for ticks.

Dave Macchia, tick control enthusiast
Dave Macchia, Tick Control Enthusiast

Is Your Tick Bite Infected? If You’re Concerned about Lyme Disease in Central Mass, Read More.

Not all ticks carry infections.  Many areas of the US don’t have a serious tick problem.  Did your tick bite give you Lyme disease?Unfortunately, Central MA is not one of them.

Ticks can carry more than one infection, which are often associated with the tick species.  Our most common tick in Massachusetts is the Deer tick, a carrier of Lyme Disease.

When bitten by a Deer tick, it can take 3-30 days before any sign of a Lyme infection has occurred.  It is important to write down on a calendar when you were bitten.  Any sign or symptoms occurring within 30 days should be reported to your physician.  He or she will need to know when you were bitten and when you noticed the first symptoms.  Ticks use an anesthetic when they bite, so they often go unnoticed.  If a tick is removed within 48 hours of first biting, the risk of them transmitting Lyme Disease is believed to be low.

Lyme disease prevention begins with trusted Central Mass tick control.

If you do find a tick attached to your skin, there are certain things you need to know.  Along with fatigue, chills, fever, headache, muscle and joint pain and swollen lymph nodes you should look for physical signs of an infection as well.  In the case of Lyme Disease, the infection will often show as a bulls-eye rash on your skin.  It can appear around the bite or anywhere on the skin.  The rash will often gradually expand further out from the area first discovered.  Some patients will simply notice a red blotch with no bulls-eye.  The rash is usually not itchy or painful.  Thirty percent of infected patients will not see a rash at all, so noting the other symptoms you are experiencing is important in your diagnosis.

Also read: Should I put anything on a tick bite?

The bulls-eye rash can have other variations.  Immune response, skin pigmentation and the location of the bite can affect how the rash develops.  In the photo on the right, only a small, inflamed area appears around the bite.  This inflammation is a first sign of a possible infection but not conclusive.  Inflammation is a naturally occurring healing process our body uses to repair damaged cells.  Consider any inflammation an indication you need to observe if you have any other symptoms and if a rash around the bite area.

Lyme Disease rashThis photo is the classic bulls-eye rash with which we are most familiar.  It clearly looks like a bulls-eye and is indicative of a Lyme infection.

Lyme rash
courtesy of dunehypnotherapy.co.uk.com

This photo shows a less defined bulls-eye.  It does have a reddish or brown center area with a lighter brown area around it.  This patient had a Lyme infection.

lyme disease infection
courtesy of helio.com

On tanned skin, the bulls-eye rash can be even more difficult to distinguish.  The darker pigmentation of the skin makes the rash more subdued and difficult to distinguish.  This photo is from a pediatric patient with a Lyme infection.

The most important thing to remember when bitten by a tick is to track your symptoms.  In many cases, no rash may appear.  Each patient’s immune system will respond differently to an infection but a rash is one more clue that a Lyme infection has occurred.

Remember, if you are in good health and Lyme Disease is diagnosed early you have an excellent prognosis of overcoming the disease after a few weeks of antibiotics.  Contacting your doctor as soon as any symptoms appear is your best course of action in overcoming any worry and getting rid of the disease.

Also read: Is Chronic Lyme disease real?

Dave Macchia Mosquito Squad square 2
Dave Macchia, Tick Control Enthusiast

Ticks in Massachusetts will do anything but jump to get their next blood meal

can-tick-jump-on-my-head-central-massTicks in Massachusetts, such as deer ticks are fascinatingly smart about how they find their next food source.  They don’t crawl, jump, or fly for their survival.  They don’t have to!

They don’t crawl into your Central Mass home, sneak into your bed and wait for you at night. They don’t climb above your swing set and jump on your children’s heads as they swing. And they don’t jump from trees or vegetation if you walk near them. Ticks in Massachusetts waste no energy, but lay in wait for the perfect host to just brush on by them.

What is questing?

Questing is what a tick does when it needs a new host for its next blood meal. The deer tick will climb to the very tip of a blade of grass, a leaf of a shrub or a plant stem. Hanging on with their third and fourth pairs of legs, the tick will stretch out its first pair waiting to grab onto any host that brushes by. When this happens they use those front legs to grab ahold. Once there, they quickly climb upwards to find a dark, moist hidden place to latch on for a blood meal.

How high do deer ticks quest?

ticks in MassachusettsIn normal conditions a deer tick will climb vegetation that is the perfect height to grab a hold of the host they are after. For instance, when a tick is in the larva stage they prefer small rodents and will choose to quest in the low vegetation and underbrush where those critters have left evidence of past travels. Nymph (teenage) and adult ticks will find taller vegetation, up to knee height so that they can grab a hold of bigger mammals and human hosts who brush by. Ticks do not normally climb higher than knee height, nor do they jump down on your head from a tree branch. The reason you find a tick on your head or neck is either 1.) you were bent down, sitting or lying in a place where they were able to climb on or 2.) (most likely) they latched on at knee level or lower and quickly climbed upward.

Unpredictable tick infestation behavior

While ticks normally do prefer cool shady places that are low to the ground for their questing, there are some definite variations in their behavior. When ticks get to the infestation levels they are currently at in Central Massachusetts some abnormal questing behavior can be observed. I’ve seen ticks on hot black top in the blazing sun, I’ve seen them climbing up the side of a house and will continue to see these abnormalities as long as the tick population remains at this high infestation level.

The good news is ticks won’t live long out in the sun where the humidity is low. The bad news is they might find their way to you in unpredictable new ways. Finding you means biting you, and that could result in Lyme Disease. Eliminating ticks on your property to lower your exposure is the best way to protect your family and pets from dangerous tick-borne disease, such as Lyme disease.

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

With a traditional tick control barrier spray ticks and mosquitoes are eliminated on contact. With the addition of tick tubes the tick life cycle is interrupted by eliminating tick nymphs before they become adults looking for a deer or human host.

Also read: Do ticks borrow completely under your skin?

You didn’t see the tick. You didn’t see the rash. You didn’t see it coming – Lyme Disease

Is it possible that you have Lyme Disease if you didn’t see a tick and didn’t see a rash? Avril Lavigne just learned that the hard way. Here are two truths that make this scenario not only possible but also not all that uncommon.

You won’t hit the bullseye every time

Utter the word Lyme Disease and people shudder. They should. It’s a disease that seems to be way too easy to catch. If ticks are in our grass and our plants and our leaves, how are we supposed to enjoy our lives without giving up on being outdoors? The nice thing is if you do somehow get bitten by a diseased tick, you will know right? Many people look for the bullseye rash to confirm they have Lyme Disease. But, about 20% of the time, Lyme Disease does not present with a bullseye rash. Unfortunately, the lack of such a rash cannot spell relief 100% of the time – only 80% of the time.

Nymph ticks are about the size of a poppy seed. Would you notice a nymph tick if it crawled on you?
Nymph ticks are about the size of a poppy seed. Would you notice a nymph tick if it crawled on you?

Poppy seed sized ticks

If you think you have all the symptoms for Lyme Disease – fever, chills, sweats, muscles aches, fatigue, nausea & possibly joint pain but you never pulled off a tick, you may not be out of the woods.

In fact, nymph ticks are only about the size of a poppy seed which almost completely ensures that you won’t see a nymph tick that crawled on you. It’s so small, you likely won’t know if it bit you either.

Recently Avril Lavigne publicly announced that she has been suffering from Lyme Disease. She doesn’t know how or where she caught it and it took a very long time to come to a Lyme disease diagnosis.

The best protection is protection at home. Your yard is where you spend the majority of your outdoor time. A seasonal tick protection includes regular spraying that both eliminates adult ticks in your yard and continues to eliminate them based on our microencapsulated timed release system.

Dave Macchia, tick control enthusiast
Dave Macchia, Tick Control Enthusiast

Three Super-Easy Tips For Getting Rid Of Ticks

The University of Rhode Island Tick Encounter Resource Center is a great resource.

I wanted to share their top 3 easiest tips for getting rid of ticks that anyone can do, NO EXCUSES!

getting rid of ticks

In a page titled, TickSmart ™ Tips for TickSafe Living!, 5 tips were given by the Center but 3 are the most simple and easy ones to do.

Tip #1 involves duct tape.

Where would repair people, mechanics and homeowners be without this 11th Wonder of the Fix-it World?  Well, there’s yet another use for it when it comes to ticks.  Before ticks become attached to your skin or your dog’s skin, tear off a piece of duct tape and “stick it to them”.  Blotting up any ticks on the skin removes the tick and prevents them from becoming lost before you can throw them out.  Use a big enough piece of tape to fold it over the tick after removing it and seal them inside.  When you’re done, throw the tape in the trash.  How easy is that?

The second tip involves your toilet.

It’s OK; this one isn’t as bad as it sounds.  Since you have some privacy and your pants and lower garments are off it’s easy to spot any ticks on your skin.  Ticks like to hang out for a free meal in grassy and brushy areas.  They climb to a height anywhere from our ankles to knees.  They dry out quickly in the heat and sun so they try to find shade ASAP.  When they find you, that shade is under your clothes and not outside the fabric.  Once they get near your skin, they begin looking for places where the skin is thin and where the biggest blood supply can be found.  That is usually in the creases and folds of our skin, such as your waist and groin area.

Using the toilet exposes these areas to our view more than any other time of the day, so it’s sizes of ticksa good time to check for ticks in areas of our body normally hidden from our view.  If you feel a bump on your skin in an area and you can’t see clearly, it’s a good idea to inspect more closely with a mirror and flashlight.  Larvae and nymph ticks are very small so you may miss them if you are in a hurry to check. Finding a tick embedded in your skin and removed within the first 24 hours it attaches will greatly improve your chances of not getting a tick-borne infection.

What’s a dryer have to do with Tiverton tick control?

Hard ticks and soft ticks all need moisture, especially hard ticks like deer ticks.  Other soft ticks take a bit longer to dry out.  So tip #3 is to put the clothes you wore outside in the dryer as soon as you come indoors. Do this before washing them.  Ten minutes on high heat will dry out hard ticks and 15+ minutes will dry out the softer ones.  Washing won’t destroy ticks, no matter how hot the water.  Remember, they need moisture and are active in warm months so warmth and water are their two best friends.  Very dry and hot are their worst nightmare.  Once your clothes are finished in the dryer, wash them knowing you won’t be releasing any ticks into your closets or clothes hamper.

Don’t forget your Charlestown tick control.

Dave Macchia, tick control enthusiast
Dave Macchia, Tick Control Enthusiast

In addition to these tick tips, you can prevent ticks from ever reaching you when at home in your yard.  A licensed tick control company can apply a perimeter spray in your yard that serves as a barrier to ticks, as well as mosquitoes, eliminating 85-90% of the ticks in your yard.  Preventing ticks from ever reaching you is one of the most effective ways you can prevent tick-borne infections in your family.  In addition, you will enjoy your yard more during warmer months knowing everyone is better protected.

Also read:
Can you feel a tick bite?