Tick Time

[Cedarman]

For those of us that work in the woods or anyone that just gets off the pavement or has a pet that does, it is tick time.
There are at least 4 diseases that get you seriously sick or kill you.
Lyme,
Babesiosis,
Ehrlichiosis,
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
And you can get several of these diseases from the same tick bite.
Do what you can to keep them off:  spray
Do a body check at least once a day.
Monitor a tick bite
And if you get sick make sure your doc knows about all 4 diseases.

[isawlogs]

When I read this kind threads , it makes me feel good to live where I do. ( Not to saye that you guys are in a bad situation  ;) ) I have other issues to deal with, but not having ticks or very little of them makes me feel good. Skeeters and deer/horse flies are anoying but can be delt with.
 

[thecfarm]

When we first built a house here,10 years ago, we did not have any ticks.My FIL would have a fit about ticks when he would come here with his dog. We live out in the country so we must have them,according to him.  :  He would always look but never found any. He found more on his dogs where he lives than we did on our dog. Sure is differant now. Still not as bad as where he lives,but we have found them on our dog.Need to get the tick stuff on him too. Like to get it on early so it has a chance to work before the ticks really start to move around alot.

[John Mc]

Don't forget Anaplasmosis.

Not very common, but it's no fun. A friend has had it once, and his dog has had it several times. His dog is such a regular with it, that he carries a descriptin with him, and a note from his vet if he's ever traveling with his dog (no one seems to have heard of it, and it's tough to diagnose).

[Tom]

I have a chronic case of "Off" disease that is commonly associated with Tick, or its synonym, irk;  becoming the most inflamed around an Election time.  The worse cases, infrequently experienced, are when I am put in a position of having to suffer fools.

Fortunately my measurement of a fool is left to my own perspective.

[clww]

Excellent, Tom! :D

[chain]

I picked two dog ticks off my neck last week, but watch out for those seed ticks later! At times you can just brush against a bush and be covered with hundreds, they're tough to get off even before they latch on. I found strong deet will kill them, but I use a number of things from lye soap with catnip, to permanone, rubbing alcohol; I don't want to just run them off. Kill them!

Years ago I had what doctors 'thought' could be Lyme disease. Two 10 day stays in the hospital, a fever every day, joints swollen, sore everywhere like arthritis, several other symptoms, my left foot swollen two sizes and took nearly a year to actually get over the disease. Lost thirty pounds and was getting around with a cane. Ticks are no joke. >:(

[Burlkraft]

Rhino has been havin' a hard time gettin' around. We were at the vet last week and she tested positive twice for limes.

Got a great big bottle of antibiotics.  I have seen some improvement over the last couple a days.

I feel sorry for the old girl, I know how she feels  :-\ :-\

[ohsoloco]

Found the first tick of the year on my dog Maya yesterday.  I've been expecting them  :(  Last year I bought a "tick twister" at the vets office for around five bucks.  Works like a charm.

[CX3]

Speaking of ticks I got 3 on me today.  They werent real big ones, must have been yearlings

[doctorb]

I am sure you woodsmen know this, but Lyme disease is carried by the deer tick, which, as an adult, is the size of the head of a pin.  If you've got a "bulls-eye" rash, that's Lymes disease and you can get sick as heck.  lymes is very common these days, not so much Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and the others.

I am concerned that Canada will not be "tick-free" forever with global warming.  Need to keep an eye on the most northern range of ticks.

[magicmikey]

   doctorb, I am a couple hundred miles north of the border. The ticks will be waking up next month. They inhabit the semi-arid interior of south central B.C.
mike

[Magicman]

I found one crawling and looking for a home last week after I handled a raccoon that I had trapped.  Yup, they are out there.   :-\

[John Mc]

I am concerned that Canada will not be "tick-free" forever with global warming.  Need to keep an eye on the most northern range of ticks.

We had ticks here in Vermont when I moved here 11 years ago, but nothing like we have today. Lyme's disease was almost non-existent then. The only times our vet had seen any Lymes cases was when someone traveled with their dog out of state. Now, Lyme's is common in dogs, and humans are getting it with increasing frequency.

One of the things cited as causing to the greater number of ticks and higher incidence of Lymes: invasive forest plant species, particularly Japanese Barberry - apparently this makes ideal mouse habitat, and small mammals such as mice are important hosts for part of that particular tick's life cycle.

John Mc

[doctorb]

magicmikey and John Mc-

Good info.  We vaca in southern Ontario about an hour north of the border at the Thousand Island crossing.  Our yellow lab has yet to have any ticks on him when we are up there.  It may be that, since he spends his whole time in the water, that they are less likely to have time to take hold.  However, since he rarely puts his head under, I would think we should see a few if they are there.  He did have a porcupine "bite" him while he was there though. :D  I worry about it more each summer.

[Burlkraft]

I have seen ticks on logs in the middle of winter.

Under the bark on one oak tree under the bark there was a whole pile of 'em herded up for the winter

[Tom]

Ticks, and other vermin, were once kept at a minimum in the Southeast with a Fire regimen. We no longer burn like we used to do.   What is the alternative?

[Fla._Deadheader]

 When I had "Tick fever", my old country doctor called it "Tularemia" or "Rabbit fever". Might check the medical terms and see if it cross links to a different name.

Old doctor had passed and, the new younger doctor had NEVER heard of any such thing. I had to tell him how to treat it.

I've seen 3 down here, so far.

Diving for logs, in coffee colored water, surrounded by gators is NOTHING compared to my fear of a tick.  : :

[northwoods1]

We are just finding the 1st ticks of the season here too. I had never seen a deer tick until 7-8 yrs. ago and now finding them is commonplace in certain areas. Lymes disease is fairly common in both people and pets but is most likely under diagnosed. One of my dogs tested positive for Ehrlichiosis a couple years ago and I have been treating her with Doxacycline as required. A couple years ago I had suspected that I had a case of Lymes because I was having the typical symptoms. I knew I had gotten bitten by deer ticks and over a course of 3 days I began having severe muscle and joint pain to the point I knew something was not right. I did not have the typical bullseye rash which so often described. I started myself on doxacycline (which I am hate to do, I am very reluctant to take any sort of antibiotic) and within 12 hours I felt 100% better. The antibiotics are the answer for all these tick borne diseases. If let untreated Lymes disease can become a very serious problem and even lead to death. It attacks every part of the body including the nervous system. The antibiotics do not totally kill the spirochetes however since they become lodged in every part of your body head to toe and the antibiotics simply can not effectively kill them 100%, once you have had it you can have a relapse, and I have also had that occur. In that case you need to start up on the antibiotics again. I have had relapses several times and in each case it was after I had been working very strenously, 2 times in the rain, and I over stressed myself.
This year in addition to applying Frontline to my dogs I will be applying a topical repellent to them as well. Also to my horses. Since the mouse is a very important part of the life cycle of the deer tick controlling their population is important. Like Docb said the adult deer tick is the size of the dot of an "I" in standard new print. But the larva, which emerge in the fall of the year, are much smaller. The larva need to feed in the fall before hibernation and this is typically on a mouse. Then the next year they emerge as adults and will feed on anything they can get a hold of.

[Coon]

We have alot of ticks around here in Saskatchewan during the hot dry months of the year.  Last year was not too terribly bad for having ticks around because we had a cold wet summer/year.  We mainly have wood ticks here but do have deer ticks as well.  It wasn't till within the last ten years or so that we've had ticks of any amount.  A bit further south of us they've had em as long as I can remember. 

Around these parts during the hot part of summer we try to stay away from long tall grass without preventative measures and even then we still end up with the %^&*'s on us.  It's not fun to get lymes disease....

Brad.

[gary]

Here is a good tick repellant. Orthro total kill dilluted with water 5 to 1. It is permathin. Spray it on your clothes and it will last for about 3 weeks. You will be able to see the ticks die as they walk on your clothes.

[beenthere]

If anyone wants to google it, the name is permethrin.

[northwoods1]

If anyone wants to google it, the name is permethrin.

Right, and it is Ortho. And I would be very careful to dilute it way down as that is a lawn and garden insecticide. Permethrin is commonly found in a lot of repellents and things like pet flea and tick shampoo but it is not suitable for cats they can not tolerate the stuff at all.

[gary]

Diluting it to that amount makes it the same as other brands sold as tick repellant. It is not recommened for pets or to put it on your skin. Spray it on your clothes and let it dry before wearing.

[H60 Hawk Pilot]

I was at National Guard Summer (forgot name) Camp base in VA. I was there to evaluate a PA Guard Air Cav Troop for aircraft maintenance  My friend (Barry) was with me in Virgina as my co pilot from Ft. Bragg, NC.

We were there for four or five days and Barry really got sick and worst in worst. He went to see the (temp.) doctor for treatment. He gave him asprin and bed rest.  I checked on Barry in the afternoon and he was out of it with high fever.  Barry was laying face down on the bed with a river of sweat droplett's all over him and collected sweat forming in the vee of his spine.  I knew that he was in big trouble and asprin was not going to work. The temp. doctor was gone for the day. I called my commander at Ft. Fort Bragg.  He rushed a Blackhawk out of Bragg with a replacement pilot for Barry. When they returned to Bragg .. they landed the right at the hospital pad at Ft. Bragg and Barry was taken directly to the ER.

Barry had Rocky Mt. Spotted Fever, if one or two more days had gone bye..  Barry may have been in a struggle for his life (perhaps). He was hospitalized for 5 or 6 days as I recall. Afterwards.. he thanked me for looking out for him and getting him to the hospital ASAP... may have saved his life.

I have a limited knowledge of these tick carried dieases. From reading what is said here .. they are bad stuff and can but you in your grave. I gave the example of my friend Barry. He was in sorry shape with Rocky Mt. Spotted Fever.. it put a job on him and he was young man at he time.  

Avery

[John Mc]

One of my dogs tested positive for Ehrlichiosis a couple years ago and I have been treating her with Doxacycline as required.

I believe Ehrlichiosis is the same thing as Anaplasmosis (which I mentioned in an earlier post)... the kind that infects humans was originally called Ehrlichiosis, but the current name is Anaplasmosis. There are several strains, the one that is most common in dogs can also affect humans, and there is another that seems primarily to affect humans.

Ticks are not the only way to catch it. It is often undiagnosed. It's becoming more common to have this along with some other tick-borne disease (like Lymes disease), so an MD may think they've got a diagnosis from a positive Lymes test, but actually only have half the story.

The CDC has info on this here:
CDC anaplasmosis info. Click on the link about statistics to see a map with geographic distribution in the USA.
Avoiding ticks on people includes links on avoiding ticks on animals, removing ticks, etc.

Some wikipedia links:
Canine Elichiosis
Human granulocytic anaplasmosis

[northwoods1]

I believe Ehrlichiosis is the same thing as Anaplasmosis (which I mentioned in an earlier post)... the kind that infects humans was originally called Ehrlichiosis, but the current name is Anaplasmosis. There are several strains, the one that is most common in dogs can also affect humans, and there is another that seems primarily to affect humans.

Your right it is almost the same thing. I have been closely watching the spread and number of cases in my county of tick borne illnesses in pets closely since the 1st tests have become available which was about 6-7 years ago. My x wife and I owned a veterinary clinic and she still operates it and is a veterinarian herself, so this was easy for me to do. She called me the other day and let me know to start up treating the dogs again as they had begun finding ticks on some of the dogs that were coming in already. Every year since testing began at the clinic the positive cases are about 75% Lymes and 25% Ehrlichiosis. Once in a great while a case of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever will be found but it has always been on a dog that has lived in a region of the country where it is commonly found before coming here to WI. I think last year she had about 36 cases that tested postive. Those numbers seem very high considering the size of the area the clinic serves and the fact that only a small portion of the clientele chose to have their pets tested.

There is also a lot of good info on the subject of Lymes diseases available through the Lymes Disease Foundation website. I know at one time they had recommended that if a person knows that they have been bitten by a deer tick they should take 100-200 mg of oral antibiotics such as Doxacycline even if they don't bother to get tested or have a test that comes out negative. There are a lot of doctors out there that really have no idea of how to diagnose and treat some of these tick borne illnesses because they simply don't have much experience with them yet. Some of the best research that has been done to date has been done by veterinarians surprisingly enough.

[jander3]

I got religion and use Permanone Clothing Gear Insect Repellent, always, on everything.

A few weeks back ended up at the Mayo with Lymes, Antiplasmosis, and Babasiosis all at once.  Ended up in the Mayo for  week and took well over a year to recover. 

The permanone may not be good for you, but it is clear to me that it is the lesser of two evils.

Hate the ticks.  But, you get no choice.   Course we don't see many ticks in December.

[KBforester]

I grew up in Lyme Connecticut where Lyme disease is named after. As a boy I came home from playing in the salt marshes with at least 10 ticks on me at the end of the day. Maybe one out of 10 would be a deer tick. The drill was the same, check the outside of your clothes before you come in, go strait to your room, strip down and check, and check again. Check your sheets before you go to bed. I've gotten bit by deer ticks more times than I can remember (10-15 times maybe?) and have never gotten the disease (knock on wood). Many of my friends have though. You can probably figure if you have actually FOUND a deer tick biting you, then you can assume you've been bitten before. Your never going to notice a bulls eye on the top of your head, or where the sun don't shine. 

Since I've moved up north (Maine, and Northern NY) I've noticed everyone is freaking out about them. I found 1 tick on me in NY and maybe 3 in Maine. In my book, there are no tick problems up this far. I guess 0-3 is technically 300% increase. But still. The same goes with snakes. I've never met anyone more scared of Snakes than a Mainer, which is funny considering there are no poisons snakes in Maine.

[ely]

kb, i think i can outdo most mainers.
tom , i still use fire down here at the house.
not the last couple days with all the wind though.
ive almost burned off a whole 15 acres though.

[Tam-i-am]

Lyme has become a huge problem in different states.  Only 20% of the people will get the bullseye rash.  So Lyme often goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.
If you dismiss the flu like symptoms and never saw the tick or rash, your other symptoms like arthritis, neurologic problems, ADD in kids, and the list goes on forever will be treated as such instead of treating for lyme.  Lyme is a great mimic of other disease.

I have battled it for many years - never saw the tick, never had the rash.  Don't know how long I had it before I lost feeling in the left side of my face and then spread to left arm and leg.  Doctor tested for stroke, brain tumor, ms, chronic fatigue.  All the while he had a positive test for lyme but did not believe it could be lyme.  I ended up finding a lyme specialist to treat me.  There are not many around.  Usually they are well versed because they had lyme themselves.

The best prevention is to check yourself every morning, when coming in from woods or grassy area and before bed.  It takes 24 hours for the tick to infect you with lyme so if you can get them off before you can prevent lyme.  Of course you have to be careful when removing the tick to be sure you got his pesky little head out.  On another thread someone posted a great tick removal system and it is cheap and can hook to your key chain.  Save the tick if you can as it can be tested.  I find a piece of scotch tape works well.

[beenthere]

Tamiam
I have been 'storing' them on tape as well. Fold them in and they can be saved for some time later when the subject may come up again (hopefully not).

[submarinesailor]

I was treated for Lymes for the 3rd time last summer - not fun.

Bruce

[Magicman]

I got my first one off of me Friday.  Stuck tight just above my belt line.  I hate ticks.

[bill m]

So far I have never found a tick on me while or after being in the woods all day running a saw. ( did I just jinx myself )
I did have Lymes once. Caught it early and have had no effects from it. Never did find a bullseye or even remember being bit when I got it.

[ellmoe]

I hate it when people forward bogus warnings, even though I have even done it myself a couple of times. This one is real and important. If someone comes to your front door saying they are checking for ticks due to the warming weather and asks you to take your clothes off and spin around with your hands over your head,



   DO NOT DO IT!! IT'S A SCAM!!



They are not really checking for ticks. They just want to see you naked!



I wish someone had sent this to me yesterday. I feel so stupid.