[MR] Lyme disease epidemic in Northern Atlantia area

[LWright740 at aol.com]

There really is no need to panic over the article.  This epidemic has  been 
old news for the last 15 years.
 
Good advice about insecticides and danger to cats.  Can also sicken  
children and elderly.
 
Advice on clothing tucked into boots and shirts into waist bands is  
wonderful, but not always workable with women's garb.
 
Take home Message
Look for and remove ticks!  Watch for next few weeks  for evidence of rash 
around all tick bites!  If tick found in hair you may  just want to see 
doctor about treatment anyway because rash can be missed!   Lyme's disease is 
only a problem if undetected and allowed to smolder  over time.  If you wait 
to treat until antibody titers have risen  (a positive test result) you have 
missed the best window to prevent the  disease.  Also testing too early may 
give a false positive test and allow  you to develop the disease after the 
infection.
 
I am one of the unfortunates that contracted Lyme's disease at a Sapphire  
Joust in the 90's.  We were at the Goochland site then and I found a small  
tick under my skirt waistband.  It had been on for less than 24 hours and  
came off easily.  It was a small tick or what we used to call a "seed  tick". 
 Within one week I had the characteristic bull eye rash and  went on 
doxycyline for three courses of 30 days over the next 6 months.   The rash 
continued to slowly migrate out from the origin to a maximum diameter  of 4" before 
fading in 6 months.  I'm not sure how the rash pattern and  migration 
related to active infection, but my doctor continued to treat and  monitor my 
serum antibody titers until it was gone. I have had no  long term problems and 
did not get sick other than the rash.
 
I doubt that your MD would be able to identify the tick.  In  Veterinary 
Medical school were taught to identify both internal and external  parasites, 
but they do not do that for human medical doctors.  I do know  about MD 
curriculum because I have spent the last 4 years at a Eastern Virginia  Medical 
School working on my Masters in Public Health for Epidemiology.
 
Regards,
Lora Leigh

 
.-
 
In a message dated 4/16/2009 10:02:42 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
isolda1066 at gmail.com writes:

If you  find them in the first 24 hours, it's rare
that you'll contract  anything.  If you find a tick that's already bitten
into your skin,  you can extract the tick and save it for a doctor to look
at.  (In the  first 24 hours, he would not have cemented himself in yet, so
should be  easier to extract.) 


 
 



**************Great deals on Dell’s most popular laptops – Starting at 
$479 
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1220029082x1201385915/aol?redir=http:%2F%2Fad.doubleclick.net%2Fclk%3B213969145%3B35701480%3Bh)