Archive for Tips about illness caused by Tick bites
Lyme Disease and other Tick bite related illnesses
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Ticks, like these dog ticks to the left, eat blood from warm blooded mammals. Humans are warm blooded mammals so we can provide a meal for these arthropods. The big ones are engorged females. They can drink 600 times their weight in blood.
On my BlogTalkRadio.com show (every Thursday at 730PM) on 15 April2010, I was interviewd by my co-author of FemaleMenopauseMentors.com – Anne Vaillancourt PAC.
Anne and I discuss ticks, illnesses like Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, STARI and others in our one hour show. The podcast for the show is linked below.
I would like to know if you have ever had one of these illnesses. How did you get diagnosed? How did you tolerate your treatment? Do you have any lingering problems? Please tell me about your experience in the comments section below. I would love to hear from you! Do you think what I say on the show is accurate in your experience?
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Ticks, Tick bites and Tick realted Illness, part 3
Posted by: | CommentsThis is the third and final part of the series with Dr. Marcia Herman-Giddens D.P.H., adjunct Professor of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We finish our discussion about TIC-NC, tick removal, prevention of tick related illness and when is it safe to go into the woods. This section experienced a technical malfunction right at the end of the section and the final 30-60 seconds may have been cut off. The picture to the left is Dr. Herman-Giddens and to the right are dog ticks. The larger ticks are engorged females. At the end of this podcast Dr. Herman-Giddens reminded people that prevention of tick bites was very important and that the chemical Permethrin (made for the Chrysanthemum plant) can be applied to clothes or bought already in clothing. It is know to slow tick movement and can cause tick death if they stay on the material.
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Ticks, Tick Bites and Tick-related Illnesses with Dr. Marcia Herman Giddens
Posted by: | CommentsPart one of this 3 part series was published on Tuesday, November 24. This is the second part of our discussion about ticks and their effect on humans. We discuss the difficulty in diagnosing Lyme disease, STARI or what some call Southern Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses.
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Dr. Marcia Herman-Giddeons discusses Ticks, Tick bites and Tick-related Illnesses
Posted by: | CommentsDr. Marcia Herman-Giddens D.P.H. is an adjunct professor at the
school of Public Health at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. She is also a founder and President of TIC-NC (tick-borne infection council of North Carolina). TIC-NC is a non-profit organization whose mission is to inform the public and work with the state in developing programs around the tick-related problems that affect citizens of the state.
The podcasts here are a 3 part series during which Dr. Herman-Giddens discusses ticks, tick-bites and issues of public health caused by tick related illnesses. In this post is part one. Parts two and three will follow in the next few days.
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Tick Bites, Red Meat, and Hives
Posted by: | CommentsEver heard of a sugar contained in red meat called alpha-galactosidase? I never heard much about it except to know that it existed. If you haven’t taken and advanced physiology class you probably haven’t heard about it either.
Now, if you haven’t heard about ticks and problems from tick bites, I wonder where you have been living. Everyone with a rash in the summer or a tick bite thinks they have Lyme disease. Ticks can cause so many problems and now they can cause you to have a meat allergy.
This was brought to my attention by a patient that sent me a link to this article from the Washington Post. Dr. Thomas Platts-Mills is a prominent allergist with an international reputation at the University of Virginia. He has published a study of 24 patients from the south east with sudden meat allergy triggered by tick bites.
If you have had a recent food allergy to meat – beef, lamb or pork – first avoid it. Second, read the article and ask your doctor to get you into the UVa. study on this meat allergy/tick bite problem. If you have a meat allergy, I would like to hear from you. Leave me a comment or contact me.
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Ticks are coming, be Prepared
Posted by: | CommentsTick season will begin next month. I have removed several from children this winter after they played in wooded areas on days that reached above 50 degrees F. You should not allow your self or your family to be bitten without some preparation. In this video I try to help you be better prepared to avoid tick bites.
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Fleas – pests on your pets , YOU and in Your HOME
Posted by: | CommentsWhat is a FLEA? An insect pest that is a parasite on any creature that has blood. That means fido, the cat and you. Be sure to download your free PDF on the Flea and Tick Lifecycle at the end of the article.
Do they pose a threat to you or your pet? The main problem from fleas is the rash and itching that occurs from their bites and the secretions they leave in the wound created by their bite. Adult fleas feed only on blood. They require blood meals and prefer to remain on their host. Females can lay up to 50 eggs a day all of which fall off of the host onto the ground or carpet.
What about the house? My family and I had the experience of having our cat die. Everyone was so upset we went away for a few days. When we returned the fleas pounced on us. They had literally multiplied into thousands of pests. Without hosts to feed upon adults die, but pupating larvae can remain in their cocoons for up to 12 months until vibrations and rising carbon dioxide levels signal to them to emerge and feed.
The main flea on our pets and on us is the cat flea. They aren’t picky, they will live on any host with blood. Other than itching and secondary bacterial infection from scratching, fleas transmit few diseases. They can give tape worms to our pets or to infants who ingest adult fleas. Murine typhus and Plague are also able to be transmitted but require the flea to first bite an infected host like a wild rat. We are very rarely in contact with such fleas in this country.
Natural treatments for Flea Control- For those of us who want to use green remedies let me give a few words of warning. D-limonene is a citrus peel based product that is safe but causes allergic reaction some cats – consult your vet before use. Pennyroyal oil is also available but only use it in shampoo that is commercially produced and do not mix it yourself. Pulegone is the ingredient in the oil that is toxic to the fleas. Unfortunately, there is a dose related toxicity in mammals i.e. your pet. Symptoms include lethargy, vomiting, diarrhea, nose bleeds, seizures and death due to liver failure. There is no antidote. Talk to your vet first!
How about in your home? How to get rid of fleas in the carpet? There are lots of remedies to be self applied. Diatomaceous earth is a good one but, can be tough on the owners lungs – exercise caution here! One that I liked is a strobe trap.
Adult fleas have been noted to orient themselves toward light and jump when light is interrupted, as though the shadow signals passing of an unsuspecting host. Tests indicate they prefer yellow-green light (525nm) that remains on for 10 minutes and flashes off for 5 seconds. ENY0291/IG132 Univ of Florida, Co operative Extension Service
Base line, fighting fleas is long term problem. There are some good products available from your vet for the pets. A good vacuum cleaner (larvae can really cling to carpet fibers) emptied often(get the pupating larvae that will hatch into adults out of the house) and a good exterminator along with a few traps are your best bets for the home.
Here is a PDF from the FDA on flea and tick lifecycle fleatick.pdf
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Chiggers
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The American chigger is a mite and is a member of the spider family along with other parasitic insects like ticks. Chiggers are red because that is their body color, not because they suck blood. Their mouth parts are too small to penetrate deeply into our skin.
Chiggers have a four stage life cycle. The stages are egg, larvae, nymph and adult. It is mainly one species of chigger that is parasitic to mammalian vertebrates including humans. The larval stage is what bites us. It attaches itself to a pore or at the base of a hair and bites into the skin cell surface, breaking it. This allows the larval chigger to gorge itself on the internal juices of the cell(s). Afterward it drops off and molts from its 6 legged form into an 8 legged nymph.
Nymphs and adults eat decaying organic matter, insect eggs and other small insects. It is the fluid the larval chigger injects into our skin and the histamine release that occurs from its bite that causes the local allergic reaction. Chigger bites itch intensely and cause redness and welts that range from small red bumps to large fluid filled blisters. The treatment is symptomatic to relieve inflammation and itching. The pruritus or itching causes scratching that further damages the skin and sets up the skin for a secondary bacterial infection. Chiggers in N. America do not transmit any diseases but those in Asia can carry a bacteria of the rickettsia family that cause scrub typhus.
To avoid chiggers, avoid long shaded grass. Chiggers like shade and high humidity. Keeping the grass cut short to allow penetration of the sun reduces the chigger population. Do not sit or lie down in long grass or in the shade on grass or pine straw unless you want to experience the unpleasant sensation of itching for several days. Antihistamines, preferably longer acting varieties and topical corticosteroids are the preferred and easily available medications to help the symptoms. Using DEET on the skin of adults and permethrin on outdoor clothing will help to reduce the bites by repelling chiggers some. There is no good way except light and dryness to keep them out of your yard.
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Chigger (CREDIT: Jerry F. Butler, University of Florida) |
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Reaction to chigger bites (CREDIT: Jerry F. Butler, University of Florida) |
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Ticks, tick bites, RMSF and you, part 5
Posted by: | CommentsRMSF or Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is a bacterial disease (Rickettsia richettsii - named for Dr. Howard T. Ricketts who discovered it early in the 20th century) spread through the bite of the American Dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis), the wood tick (Dermacentor andersoni) or most commonly in the east the Lone Star tick (Amblyomma americanum). The highest incidence of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is actually east of the Mississippi River with most cases reported in North and South Carolina. Read More→
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Ticks, tick bites, lyme disease and you, part 4
Posted by: | CommentsIxodes scapularis, known as the deer tick, is the arthropod vector for a bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi. B. burgdorferi is a spiral-shaped bacteria that infests deer and the white-footed deer mouse. When this bacteria is transferred from the host animal to a human host the resulting disease is called Lyme Disease. Read More→
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