Historically Warm Winter Means Longer Season For Ticks

[Franky]

Mount Kisco (OPENPRESS) January 13, 2007 -- From his vantage point in Northern Westchester County about 35 miles above New York City, in the Hudson Valley, Dr. Daniel Cameron says he is seeing new cases of Lyme disease (LD) on a regular basis this winter. The Hudson Valley which has the highest incidence of Lyme disease in the country

According to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, “five states had their warmest December on record (Minnesota, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire) and no state was colder than average in December.”

While LD and its co-infections are thought of as seasonal here, with the largest numbers being reported from April to October, this strange weather pattern is changing those observations, and that is cause for concern. “I have had an increase in patients this winter with new infections and it makes me wonder how many more are out there going unnoticed,” says Cameron.

“In the spring, summer, and early fall when people contract flu-like symptoms, and no once else has the flu, a doctor may look at other possible causes, even when the patient does not present with a rash or Bell’s Palsy. But in the coming weeks when temperatures may finally drop, when colds and flu are common, and a patient walks in with flu-like symptoms or disseminated joint paint, it may be easy to assume it’s the flu, and not consider other causes,” says Cameron, who has a clinical practice in Mount Kisco, NY, and is the author of a number of papers and studies regarding the treatment of tick-borne illnesses. “That scenario may create misdiagnosis or treatment delays.”

“I took two ticks off me, and sure enough, there was a bull’s eye rash and the whole bit. I think the ticks came in on my cats,” says Art Eichorn, a Somers, NY resident and patient of Cameron’s. “I definitely feel sick,” he adds, and has since started taking antibiotics.

Another concern Cameron sees regarding this unusually warm winter, “Someone may have visited our area at Thanksgiving or Christmas this year and may have returned home with a Lyme infection unbeknownst to him and his doctor. They may not consider Lyme during flu season in other parts of the country.”

The Univ. of Rhode Island’s Tick Resource Center reports, ticks “will remain active through the winter as long as the temperatures are above freezing and the ground is not frozen or covered by snow.”

Dr. Cameron is a board-certified internist and epidemiologist, on the board of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), and lead author of ILADS’ Evidence-based guidelines for the management of Lyme disease, published in 2004.

For more information on Daniel Cameron, MD, please go to Lymeproject.com or ILADS.org