NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Lyme disease is an infection transmitted by Ixodes ticks, also known as deer ticks, tiny arachnids that are typically found in wooded and grassy areas.
Although people may think of Lyme as an East Coast disease, it is found in California and throughout the US, as well as in more than 60 countries.
Initially, Lyme disease may feel like the flu: fever, sore muscles, headache and fatigue. Some people may know they’ve been bitten and/or may develop a distinctive bull’s-eye rash. If the illness is caught at this early stage, treatment is usually effective.
However, some people may not realize they have been bitten and may not develop any rashes.
Untreated, Lyme can burrow deep into the body and contribute to many serious health conditions: heart problems, joint and muscle pain, migraines, gastrointestinal upsets, a wide range of neurological problems and psychiatric manifestations. In children, Lyme disease can also trigger learning disorders and behavioral issues. At this stage, effective treatment is more difficult.
Complicating matters, ticks don’t just carry Lyme. A single bite can spread several diseases at once.
Your best defense is to avoid ticks. Your next best defense is to quickly find and remove any that latch on to you.
Nymphal ticks, the immature ones most likely to give you Lyme disease, are as tiny as poppy seeds and easily overlooked.
They tend to stay near the ground – in leaf litter, grasses, bushes, fallen logs and on tree trunks. Researchers at Berkeley’s Tilden Park found them on the underside of wooden picnic tables.
When you brush by a tick, it may transfer to your shoe, pant leg or arm. Then it may walk up your clothing to bare skin, embed its mouth and start sucking blood. The longer a tick is attached, the more likely it will transmit disease.
To keep ticks at bay, dress defensively. Wear shoes, socks, long pants and long-sleeved shirt. Tie back long hair and wear a hat.
You can purchase clothing that has been pre-treated with the repellent permethrin at outdoor recreation stores. The protection lasts through 70 washings.
Or, you can purchase permethrin and spray clothing yourself. Protection lasts five to six washings. If doing it yourself, be sure to treat both inside and outside of the clothing.
Permethrin is a common synthetic insecticide and functions like a neurotoxin on insects and arachnids. It’s most often used in the treatment of lice and scabies in humans.
Like all toxins, permethrin can cause skin irritations, so discontinue use if you have a reaction to it.
Spraying your footwear with permethrin will prevent ticks from crawling up your shoes. In one study, people with treated shoes had 74 percent fewer tick bites then those with untreated shoes.
Apply repellent to exposed skin. Those with DEET, picaridin or lemon eucalyptus oil are the most effective.
While outdoors, periodically inspect your clothing and skin. If you find an attached tick, don’t twist or squeeze it. Don’t burn it with matches or douse it with dish soap. Use fine-tipped tweezers to grasp close to the skin and pull gently but firmly.
At the end of the day, run your clothing through a hot dryer (before washing) for 10 minutes, to kill live ticks that might be in your clothes.
Then, shower and thoroughly check yourself. Feel for bumps that might be embedded ticks. Pay attention to hidden spots – ears, hair line, armpits, groin and belly button. Parents should check their young children.
Whether or not you find a tick, watch for symptoms of tick-borne illness. A bull’s-eye rash indicates Lyme disease, but not everybody with Lyme gets one. You might have a different rash or none at all.
You may develop flu-like symptoms – fever, headache, nausea – or joint pain or dizziness. If so, see your doctor immediately.
For more information about Lyme and other tick-borne infections, go to www.lymedisease.org .
Tuleyome Tales is a monthly publication of Tuleyome, a nonprofit conservation organization with offices in Napa and Woodland, Calif. Tuleyome thanks Dorothy Leland and the California Lyme Disease Association for this submission. For more information about Tuleyome and its programs go to www.tuleyome.org .