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With tick population exploding in St. Lawrence County, medical experts suggest visiting clinic when bitten

Posted 5/28/17

By MATT LINDSEY With the recent tick population explosion in St. Lawrence County, medical experts recommend quickly seeing a doctor if you have been bitten by a tick, see a “bulls eye rash” or …

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With tick population exploding in St. Lawrence County, medical experts suggest visiting clinic when bitten

Posted

By MATT LINDSEY

With the recent tick population explosion in St. Lawrence County, medical experts recommend quickly seeing a doctor if you have been bitten by a tick, see a “bulls eye rash” or experience flu-like or arthritic-type symptoms.

Those are common signs of Lyme disease, which is transmitted by ticks that attach onto people’s arms and legs and bite them, often unnoticed.

Medical professionals also do not expect a vaccination for Lyme disease any time soon and warn of misleading information about recommended treatment.

Dr. Daniel Soule, an infectious disease specialist whose office is in Canton, says a bulls-eye rash is a frequent sign of Lyme disease. Common early symptoms also include flu-like symptoms such as fatigue, chills and fever, as well as arthritic-like sensations.

The “hot spot” for arthritic-type pain is in the knees, usually just one, but sometimes the pain is felt throughout the entire body, Soule said.

“If I have a patient who has flu-like symptoms in the middle of summer and the person has been in the garden or been in the woods, the likelihood is high they have Lyme disease,” he said.

Symptoms that occur days to months after a tick bite include possible Bells palsy can cause paralysis on one side of the face, heart palpitations and even short-term memory loss.

Quick Response Important

The longer the time between infection and treatment, the greater the chance of more serious effects.

Soule urged anyone who feels they may have been bitten by a tick to seek medical attention, as the first 24 to 48 hours are essential in treating Lyme.

People who have been outside are urged to check their bodies over, including “hidden” spots like armpits, back of legs and groin areas.

By discovering a tick bite sooner, doctors are able to treat patients earlier and fight the disease with more effect.

Transmission of Lyme disease can begin in the first 24 to 36 hours, Soule said.

For information from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, visit here.

No Vaccine

The last attempt to provide a Lyme disease vaccine for human beings was in 1998. “There was years of testing with no adverse reports,” Soule said.

But the vaccine was voluntarily taken off the market because the manufacturer believed there were not going to be enough sales to justify making it.

The vaccination came out around the same time vaccination skepticism was on the rise. “People were already on guard about vaccines,” he said.

With the media reporting the now-discredited claim that vaccinations can cause autism and other medical conditions, the public became wary, leading to the withdrawal from the market.

Soule said some people had different responses but testing showed no increase in incidents of arthritis following vaccination. He noted that people had low-grade fevers and soreness, which is consistent with many vaccines.

Soule said he is not aware of any companies working on a new vaccine.

He warned that claims a tick has to be attached for 48 hours to inject the bacteria into a human is not true.

“Be careful what you read on the internet,” he said. “There is a lot of dangerous information out there.”

Soule said misleading online articles are generally biased and often contain cherry-picked studies and also push supplements or other alleged treatments. “There is money in testing and supplements,” Soule said.

“A heavy dose of skepticism is a good thing,” she said.