Forum warns against ticks, Lyme disease
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Staten Island Advance - Wednesday, June 21, 2006
What you don't know can hurt you -- especially if the unknown comes
in the form of a tiny tick carrying Lyme disease-causing bacteria.
Last night, 130 people gathered at the College of
Staten Island to learn more about Lyme and the ticks that spread it.
"They are around us and they are dangerous if
they're not detected," said Borough President James P. Molinaro, who
sponsored the forum.
Lyme disease, which is transmitted by deer ticks,
can cause wide-ranging and vague symptoms, including headaches,
arthritis, fever, confusion, aggression, facial paralysis and
meningitis.
It is the United States' most common vector-borne
disease, with transmission most frequent during June, July and
August.
Researchers have not found evidence of deer ticks on
Staten Island, although experts believe that soon could change due
to the borough's deer population.
"It would be silly not to think you might have a
problem down the road," said Dr. Thomas J. Daniels, vector ecologist
at Fordham University. "A tick population can change a lot in five
years."
Dog ticks, which can spread diseases such as Rocky
Mountain spotted fever, constitute the vast majority of ticks in the
city and on Staten Island.
In the meantime, many Islanders -- including about
half of those attending the forum last night -- have contracted Lyme
disease, perhaps while on vacation in the Catskills, Westchester,
New Jersey or on Long Island.
Many of them never even saw the tick, don't know
exactly when they were bitten and spent months going to doctors and
trying to figure out the cause of their exhaustion, aches and mood
swings.
"I think there's a lack of information, even in the
medical field," said Dr. Ernest B. Visconti, chief of infectious
diseases at Lutheran Medical Center.
If caught early, Lyme disease can be treated
effectively with antibiotics, but if left untreated, it can cause
irreparable damage.
Yet the ambiguous symptoms can make it difficult for
patient and doctor to detect right away.
Lyme disease causes health effects similar to those
resulting from tuberculosis, mononucleosis, lupus, cancer or
lymphoma.
If a patient takes antibiotics to treat Lyme and doesn't get better,
keep on looking, Dr. Visconti said.
"If you're feeling tired, get a good checkup from
your doctor," he said.
People can protect themselves from deer ticks -- and
Lyme disease -- by wearing white clothing, tucking shirts into pants
and pants into boots, avoiding low brush and leafy brush, and
periodically checking their skin and clothing for ticks.
Upon seeing a tick burrowed into their skin, people
should use a tweezers to grab it as close to the skin as possible,
then pull in one gentle but firm motion.
The longer an infected tick stays put, the more time
it has to transmit the disease, said Dr. Richard Falco, medical
entomologist at Fordham University.
"The threat of Lyme disease is removed when the tick
is removed," he said.
By Lisa Schneider
Reprinted here with permission
from the
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