Once a tick has been removed, be sure to place it in a ziplock baggie and store it in the freezer. This way if anything crops up you'd be able to bring the tick in with ya to the doc
Lyme Disease Is on the Rise Again
21–30 of 182 posts
Re: Lyme Disease Is on the Rise Again
#22Just FYI - when I lived in Northern Virginia I discovered that in my area the main transmission method of Lyme disease was actually mice. So make sure if you find them in your house that you do something about it.
Also be careful when you remove via tweezers. If you squeeze their body you're likely to cause them to regurgitate into you which almost guarantees an infection.
I use a tick removal tool (actually used it yesterday while building a fence on the wooded side of my yard) that uses a tear drop shape to try and pinch the tick at the neck minimize regurgitation.
Re: Lyme Disease Is on the Rise Again
#23If you're a hiker, permethrin. Spray down your socks, pants, shirts. Let it dry. You're good to go for a dozen outings. Non toxic to humans, and orderless.
Permethrin is definitely the best option. But if you're running out at the last minute and don't have time to pretreat your clothing, Consumer Reports has a good guide to the best bug sprays on the market:
https://www.consumerreports.org/products/insect-repellent/ra...
E.g. both of these get high marks:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F8AMY92
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015KG5NK
DEET seems to be more effective than the Picaridin for ticks, but if you have a sensitivity to DEET then Picaridin may be the next best option and supposedly doesn't smell as bad.
Re: Lyme Disease Is on the Rise Again
#24Once a tick has been removed, be sure to place it in a ziplock baggie and store it in the freezer. This way if anything crops up you'd be able to bring the tick in with ya to the doc
This is good advice. Most people just flush them. It is important to remove ticks the proper way. Tick pullers are the best, and haven't failed me in removing the head after probably 50 removals from my dogs. Tweezers are a close second. Do not twist, and do not use the suffocation method or the burning method.
Re: Lyme Disease Is on the Rise Again
#25As an American that moved to Europe, I was already aware of the Lyme disease risks of ticks here. What I didn't realize - and am in the 1 year process of getting vaccinated against - is that ticks here carry a virus that induces encephalitis. Tick borne encephalitis is not in the Western Hemisphere as far as I am aware, so it wasn't until this spring that I found out about it. The vaccine is not available in the USA…
Grandma got both. Encephalitis is definitely nastier (and can have permanent effects on brain if not caught in time). She also got bitten by the only poisonous snake we have around here. It still hasn't stopped her from hiking in the woods all the time
Re: Lyme Disease Is on the Rise Again
#26I wonder how widespread Lyme Disease has to get before the economic incentives to develop a new vaccine reach a tipping point. There used to be a vaccine but it was discontinued because of insufficient demand. https://www.niaid.nih.gov/diseases-conditions/lyme-disease-v... "In April 2002, GSK announced that even with the incidence of Lyme disease continuing to rise, sales for LYMErix declined from about 1.5 million d…
Strangely enough you can get your dog vaccinated but not yourself. >As of December 2016, a Phase I clinical trial was announced for a new candidate vaccine developed by the French company Valneva. The vaccine is similar to the SmithKlineBeecham product, but the vaccine is multivalent, targeting six Borrelia OspA serotypes. The trial will test vaccine safety, and a later Phase II trial will test efficacy.[xi] Baxter,…
Safety standards for animals are lower.
Re: Lyme Disease Is on the Rise Again
#27I've stopped hiking and camping largely because of this. Its just not worth it any more.
This page has an uncommon photo of just how small the nymph deer ticks are. https://sectionhiker.com/backpacking-lyme-disease-prevention...
Re: Lyme Disease Is on the Rise Again
#28If you're a hiker, permethrin. Spray down your socks, pants, shirts. Let it dry. You're good to go for a dozen outings. Non toxic to humans, and orderless.
Permethrin is definitely the best option. But if you're running out at the last minute and don't have time to pretreat your clothing, Consumer Reports has a good guide to the best bug sprays on the market: https://www.consumerreports.org/products/insect-repellent/ra... E.g. both of these get high marks: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F8AMY92 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015KG5NK DEET seems to be more eff…
>doesn't smell as bad
If you look up the MSDS for DEET, it's actually odorless. The classic smell of Off! isn't from the DEET, and you can get odorless versions of it. I found a very good one in Moscow a few years back that just smelled like hand cream.
Re: Lyme Disease Is on the Rise Again
#29If you're a hiker, permethrin. Spray down your socks, pants, shirts. Let it dry. You're good to go for a dozen outings. Non toxic to humans, and orderless.
Not legal in Canada.
Then again there's few ticks in Canada's north, so Canadian hikers should just explore the northern part of their provinces.
Re: Lyme Disease Is on the Rise Again
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Strangely enough you can get your dog vaccinated but not yourself. >As of December 2016, a Phase I clinical trial was announced for a new candidate vaccine developed by the French company Valneva. The vaccine is similar to the SmithKlineBeecham product, but the vaccine is multivalent, targeting six Borrelia OspA serotypes. The trial will test vaccine safety, and a later Phase II trial will test efficacy.[xi] Baxter,…
Safety standards for animals are lower.
And higher risk to play outdoors all the time unprotected, and different methabolism.