Disease, paralysis, even death may result from ticks

[Franky]

By Bobby Cleveland
bcleveland@clarionledger.com

Tick. Tick. Tick.

With every second that passes during an outdoor activity in Mississippi, your odds increase of being bitten by Nature's No. 2 disease-carrying bug:

The tick.

"People don't really realize it, but ticks rank second only to the mosquito when it comes to infectious bug bites," said Jerome Goddard, an entomologist with the Mississippi Department of Health. "There are several diseases that are carried by ticks that can be passed on to humans."

Goddard said the No. 1 threat in Mississippi, surprisingly, is not Lyme disease. "Rocky Mountain spotted fever is the most common disease we see involving tick bites in Mississippi," Goddard said. "Lyme disease is not too common in the Southeast, not nearly as much as the East Coast, the Great Lakes region and the Pacific Northwest.

"We do have a Lyme-like disease in Mississippi, but the thing to remember is that Lyme symptoms are similar to many other diseases." The classic triad of symptoms of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever include fever, rash and a history of tick bites. Other symptoms that follow are weakness, severe headache, chills and other body aches.

The disease can be fatal, according to Goddard. The mortality rate of untreated cases is 20 percent but is reduced to four percent if the patient receives treatment. Another serious malady passed by ticks in Mississippi is tick paralysis.

"It's rare, but I have seen a couple of cases of it in Mississippi," Goddard said. "It's a slow progressive paralysis that is potentially fatal if the tick is not located and removed. "It's strange but in the cases I've seen, once the tick is removed, there is full recovery and the improvement is almost immediate."

Goddard co-authored A Guide to Ticks of Mississippi for the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and Mississippi State University.The bulletin discusses the 19 species of ticks found in Mississippi and the diseases they can cause and offers tips for avoiding bites and also on how to properly remove ticks.

"Most important thing about tick bites is removing the tick as soon as possible," Goddard said. "Most diseases are passed over a long period of time through tick saliva. The longer it is attached to the body the more infection can occur. "It is essential to locate ticks as soon as possible and then properly remove the entire tick."

Avoiding bites is possible, even when in heavily infested areas. Turkey hunters are among the most susceptible outdoorsmen. They hunt in the spring in some of the worst tick environments, and the nature of the sport exposes them to ticks for extended periods of time.

"You see turkey hunters and even some deer hunters walking around with our pants tucked inside the tops of our rubber boots," said Tommy Rivers of Brandon. "I think that started to keep our pants out of mud, but I do it because I got tired of being bitten by ticks.

"What I do is tuck my pants in my boots and then spray a repellent with Deet or even better, Permanone, on the edge of my pants at the juncture. When I hunt in areas were ticks are really bad I take my clothes I'm going to hunt in, spray them down with Permanone and seal them overnight in a plastic bag."

Goddard said that it has been his experience that Permanone - the active ingredient of which is Permithrin - is the most effective."Do not apply it directly to skin, however," Goddard said. "Just spray it on clothes. Ticks can't handle it."

[linnysue]

Franky, thanks for this article. Ticks are serious business. I didn't realize just how serious and dangerous a situation ticks can cause until just recently. The article does mention to properly remove ticks when found, so I'd like to include some links on information on how to properly and safely remove ticks:

http://www.lyme.org/ticks/removal.html

There is also a tick removal kit that can be purchased as well. Not a bad idea for those who are active outdoors.

http://www.lyme.org/tickkit/tickremovalkit.html