The truth about ticks

Tick. Tick. Tick. It's not the clock; it's the little black dots you find on your legs, arms, head and seemingly everywhere during the summer, and experts say this year's tick population already looks worse than previous ones.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has received 82 cases of tick-borne disease, including 10 cases of Lyme-like disease and 54 cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever. In late May, a child in northeast Missouri died from ehrlichia chaffeensis, a disease related to Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

Veterinarians said the disease can be fatal, but is not often that severe. Either way, officials say the situation should be taken care of as soon as contraction is suspected.

"Ehrlichiosis is a big one that you can see with ticks," said Carol Jordan, communicable disease nurse at Cape Girardeau CountyPublic Health Center.

She said the health department usually receives word of about 10 cases a year but have already heard five cases this year.

Tick season is here, and that means being on the lookout for the small, disease-carrying arachnids. One way to prevent tick bites while hiking is to walk in the middle of the path rather than the grass or woods. (Photo courtesy of Liquid Library)

"So we are seeing an increase in it," Jordan said.

If detected in time, most tick-borne diseases can be treated and relieved quickly with antibiotics.

"Lyme disease can hang on for a while," Jordan said. "Rocky Mountain spotted fever, if left untreated, can actually be fatal."

People can pick up ticks doing a number of activities, Jordan said. Almost anything outside can result in a parasitic encounter. Hiking, picnics, walks in the woods and playing with pets outdoors can bring people into contact with the tiny arachnids.

"Prevention," she said. "That's going to be the best key for folks out hiking."

Some prevention methods include wearing long pants and tucking the legs into socks. Wearing light-colored clothing can make it easier to spot ticks and using a repellent when spending time outside can help prevent tick bites.

The department of health and senior services recommends wearing a repellent that contains 20 percent or more DEET.

"But be really sure that you follow the product directions," Jordan said. "Some of them have specific restrictions as far as pertaining to children."

She said repellants containing permethrin should not be used on the skin. "They're more of a clothing-type repellant."

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in the United States. Deer ticks, small brown ticks with eight legs and small white spots on their bodies, spread it most often.

Rocky Mountain spotted fever originated in the Rocky Mountains but occurs often in Missouri. Symptoms include sudden fever, severe headache, deep muscle pain, chills or nausea.

Lyme disease and ehrlichiosis list the same symptoms. The warning signs can appear anywhere from three to 30 days from the bite date.

"You need to be sure and contact your physician's office if [you] have any skin rashes or anything like that," Jordan said.

Although it is uncommon, veterinarian Wanda Pipkin, with the Deer Ridge Animal Hospital, said it is possible to contract a disease from a pet.

"Mostly for an owner to pick it up from a dog, it would be urine exposure," she said.

A person is more likely to get a tick-borne disease from a tick that crawled off an animal rather than the animal itself. There are products that kill ticks on dogs, but owners may still see one occasionally. Most products aim to kill the tick instead of just repel it.

Most researchers say ticks must be attached for longer than 24 hours before the disease can be transmitted, Pipkin said.

"You need to be diligent about looking for ticks and taking them off if you find them," she said.

When a tick is found, it should be removed quickly but methodically. Using fine-point tweezers, grab the tick as close to the skin as possible and pull it out steadily. After removal, clean the area with soap and water.

Commercial tick removal devices are available, but Jordan said tweezers work just as well.

"There's a lot of old remedies and wives tales," she said. "They really aren't shown to work."

Covering the tick with petroleum jelly or fingernail polish to suffocate it does not work because ticks breathe only a few times per hour, according to the University of Michigan Health System.

Lighting a match under the tick will cause it to "empty it's stomach contents" back into your blood stream, increasing the chance for infection, Jordan said.

charris@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 246