East Coast Braces For Lyme Disease Cases!

Living in the heart of Virginia ticks are pretty common.

Our spring gobbler season came in back the first part of April and the ticks came along with it.  I always try to be prepared and spray my hunting clothes with permethrin several days before season.  Most years the permethrin works great.  This year I still managed to come home from opening morning with several ticks (and no turkey!).

Seems everyone is talking about the higher number of ticks, especially after our extrememly mild winter. Unfortunately, this year seems to be the perfect storm for ticks transmitting Lyme Disease.  Be safe and use precaution when outside.  Always check for ticks!

Liam Gayter writes, “Ticks carrying Lyme disease are expected to be rampant on the Appalachian Trail and much of the East coast this summer, says Richard Ostfeld, a disease ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystems in Millbrook, New York, who has studied ticks and their relationship with Lyme disease for 30 years.”

“The summer of 2015 produced the perfect conditions for oak trees to produce acorns, the main source of food for white-footed-mice that live in Eastern forests. More food for these mice leads to an exploding mouse population. The white-footed mice are the most popular hosts for black-legged ticks, the main carrier of Lyme disease.”

“According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are about 300,000 reported cases of Lyme disease every year. That total does not include the thousands of people who go undiagnosed. Holly Ahern, an associate professor of microbiology at the State University of New York, has studied Lyme disease for seven years. Ahern says that the Lyme disease bloodwork only accurately diagnoses about 50 percent of those who are tested. She estimates the more accurate number of people affected with Lyme disease is closer to 600,000.”

“To avoid ticks, your best defense is wearing long sleeves and pants. Tuck in your shirt and your pants into your socks to limit the tick’s access to your skin.”

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