One Small But Mighty Enemy
Kent County News
Opinion
One small but mighty enemy
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Posted: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 4:00 am | Updated: 9:45 pm, Wed Aug 28, 2013.
By COMMENTARY By DON HERRING
The enemy is tiny – about the size of a sesame seed – but it has the power to fell the strongest among us.
The enemy is an infected black-legged or deer tick, which can carry and transmit Lyme disease. Left untreated, the disease can cause serious problems, including arthritis, kidney and heart damage and, rarely, death.
We’ve known of Lyme disease since the 1970s, but only last week we learned it is about 10 times more common than suspected.
As many as 300,000 Americans are diagnosed with Lyme each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Previously, the disease was greatly unreported, with only 20,000 to 30,000 cases a year believed to be the national toll, CDC officials said.
In Maryland, the increased incidence of the disease has been alarming – from 688 cases in 2000 to 1,651 in 2012, according to the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
And those totals are for confirmed and probable cases only. Maryland reported an additional 643 suspect cases last year.
Where there are forests, there are usually deer and the potentially dangerous ticks they carry.
Cecil County has both extensive woodlands and numerous deer, which surely accounts for the county having the sixth highest incidence of Lyme disease among the state’s 23 counties and Baltimore City.
Cecil reported 86 confirmed cases last year, for an incidence of 84.6 per 100,000 – slightly less than the county’s estimated population.
Not unexpectedly, perhaps, six of the counties with the highest incidences of Lyme disease last year are on the largely rural and wooded Eastern Shore, extending as far south as Dorchester.
Alarmingly, the county with by far the highest incidence in the state lies just across the Sassafras River from Cecil.
Kent County, with about one-fifth the population of Cecil, had almost three times as many Lyme cases per capita. With about 21,000 residents, Kent had 48 cases, for an incidence of 237.7.
Following Kent were, in order, Queen Anne’s, Caroline, Talbot, Dorchester and Cecil counties.
Lyme disease can be cruel – its highest incidence is in children 5 to 14 years old – and it can be elusive.
About 70 to 80 percent of people bitten by an infected tick may see a rash in a characteristic bull’s eye pattern. Otherwise, the disease’s symptoms – usually fevers and aches – are easily mistaken for such things as a “summer virus.”
There is currently no vaccine to prevent the disease, which makes prevention all the more important.
The best advice seems to be stay out of the bushes – far away from woods and deer – but that’s not always possible. Many homes are near or surrounded by woodlands.
Local and state health department personnel can help, and their advice is readily available on the Internet. That information includes how to remove a tick from the body and recommended further action.
An infected tick removed within 24 hours is not likely to spread Lyme, experts say, but further treatment may be necessary.
Here are some tips from state experts for people likely to be in contact with ticks:
•Look for ticks especially when they are most active, in late spring or early fall.
•Wear long pants and long sleeves to help keep ticks off your body.
•Tuck shirts into pants, and pants into socks, to keep ticks on the outside of your clothing.
•Wear light-colored clothing to help spot ticks more easily.
•Use insect repellent, such as DEET, according to the product label.
•When hiking, walk in the center of the trail when in woods or high grass. Stay away from brushy areas, high grass and leaf litter.
•Check for ticks daily after being in tick habitat.
•Talk to your veterinarian about tick control products for pets.
Sadly, people are not the only victims of Lyme disease. It strikes a variety of species, including dogs and cats.
While there’s no evidence it is spread by direct contact with infected pets, understand that they can bring ticks into the house.
It’s good to know that Lyme disease in people usually can be cured by two to four weeks of antibiotic therapy.
It’s even better to know how best to avoid the disease in the first place.
Herring is editor emeritus of the Cecil Whig. Talk back to him at abigwhig@yahoo.com.
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