Ticks

[peakbagger]

This product has been posted a few times but might be worth bring back up again

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...-4702-11df-bf2c-000423bb4e79&_requestid=20424

I find that it lasts longer than the spray on stuff and works better. Ticks just wont land on treated clothes.

For the people concerned with skin contact, Pemetherin breaks down when in contact with the skin so its not that its toxic to spray directly on your skin as much as its a total waste of the product.

DO NOTE - PEMETHERIN USED IMPROPERLY IS REPORTED TO BE TOXIC TO CATS, I am not sure if the clothing that has been soaked and dried properly is, but please do your homework before using it if you have cats in residence.

 

[DougPaul]

This product has been posted a few times but might be worth bring back up again

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...-4702-11df-bf2c-000423bb4e79&_requestid=20424

I find that it lasts longer than the spray on stuff and works better. Ticks just wont land on treated clothes.

Standard (and best) prevention is permethrin on one's clothing and DEET on one's skin. For permethrin, see the above or http://www.rei.com/search?query=permethrin&button.x=0&button.y=0. (You can buy pretreated clothing or spray/treat it yourself.) A search on "permethrin" will bring up lots of past threads on the topoic: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...=&as_occt=any&cr=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&safe=images

For the people concerned with skin contact, Pemetherin breaks down when in contact with the skin so its not that its toxic to spray directly on your skin as much as its a total waste of the product.

Permethrin is used widely as an agricultural pesticide. It is a neurotoxin and carcinogen and can have undesirable side-effects on one's skin: http://www.drugs.com/sfx/permethrin-side-effects.html (Permethrin is intentionally applied to the skin for some conditions such as lice.) It is pretty easy to keep it off one's skin. (You apply it to the clothing, let it dry, and then put the clothing on. It lasts ~6 weeks, so you can do this at home.)

DO NOTE - PEMETHERIN USED IMPROPERLY IS REPORTED TO BE TOXIC TO CATS, I am not sure if the clothing that has been soaked and dried properly is, but please do your homework before using it if you have cats in residence.

Also very toxic to fish and aquatic life in general...

More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permethrin
http://www.safe2use.com/poisons-pesticides/pesticides/permethrin/cox-report/cox.htm

FWIW, I treat my clothing with permethrin and have had very little trouble with ticks when hiking or doing trail maintenance.

Doug

 

[spider solo]

Here is a story about a new DNA test that's been released for identifying EARLY Lyme disease. It won't help for those people (like myself) who have had previously undiagnosed Lyme for a while. But if you find a tick has embedded, this could be good news for you!

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/early-lyme-disease-dna-test,1224627.shtml

That's very promising news. The best in a long time. If they can use DNA testing to determine Lyme Disease hopefully they will soon be able to test for the other diseases that ticks carry.

That would come a long way from the ambiguity of the current testing system, which leaves many people with a very advanced form of the disease before they can "pass" as it is written now.

The CDC has been brought to court at least once ,to my understanding, for fostering and protecting a system causing undue suffering and damage to those who don't meet their criterion, leaving questions of conflict of interest for many.

Better to focus on the positive of the DNA testing....then dwell on the past I suppose.... (yes, I know the DNA test is not the end all of all.... but a big step in the right direction)

 

[una_dogger]

T

That would come a long way from the ambiguity of the current testing system, which leaves many people with a very advanced form of the disease before they can "pass" as it is written now.

The problems with the Lyme tests currently available are issues that occur with most serologically based testing methods -- the person affected needs to produce an antibody to the antigen used in the test. Not everyone seroconverts to the fragment used in the ELISA test, and in the Western Blot Analysis, different fragments are used - which gives it broader specificity.
Molecular based testing carries with it different challenges - but here's hoping for quicker diagnoses.

Tick born diseases are still poorly understood -- I think more money needs to go into the research aspects of the disease. And I am not just referring to Lyme Disease, but to Babesiosis, Anaplasmosis as well. You think its tough being diagnosed with Lyme Disease? I routinely scan *hundreds and hundreds* of Red Blood Cells microscopically looking for tiny tick transmitted bacteria which may be present in only one or two cells per hundred. These diseases <Babesiosis, Anaplasma>are very insidious in their nature.

I seriously doubt there is any CDC conspiracy involved.

 

[DougPaul]

That's very promising news. The best in a long time. If they can use DNA testing to determine Lyme Disease hopefully they will soon be able to test for the other diseases that ticks carry.

There is a long way between someone announcing that they have developed a test and its being accepted as accurate and cost-effective.

Such announcements are often made by PR departments...


So it is interesting, but it may be a while before it is available. Or it may turn out to be yet another nice idea that didn't pan out.

Doug

 

[spider solo]

There is a long way between someone announcing that they have developed a test and its being accepted as accurate and cost-effective.
Doug

Well, yes to kind of state the obvious.

Of course that is why as stated in the link, it is nice to know that only one insurance company was named as not covering the DNA test.


Thank goodness no one was suggesting conspiracy theories, they seem to abound in most any topic these days.

Conflict of interest is, of course, a different matter.

Still it is nice to have a ray of hope that progress is being made.

There is much anticipation that this will be a big year for ticks with Mid June to mid July being thought to be the peak of the nymph stage, considered to be the most active time of transmission.

Happy hiking/paddling..... may all have a safe season this year.

 

[roadtripper]

So I just pulled a nymph deer tick off my leg that must have been there for 2 days. Got it from Harold Parker State Forest in MA (aka Lyme territory)

Any recommendations? I know you aren't doctors but I trust you guys more than docs on lyme.

 

[The Hikers]

Most doctors will get you on Doxycyclene (sp) as soon as possible. When caught early there are no lasting effects.

 

[erugs]

I second the idea of getting to your doctor and asking to be put on Doxycyline asap. Except that Doxy give people a super sun sensitivity issue. I've just had my medication changed from Doxy to something else that doesn't have that issue (a two-part medication, actually -- one is an antibiotic, the other is used to treat malaria).

 

[sweeper]

My dog has been Vaccinated for Lyme since I've had him.

Last two trips into the woods I've taken four ticks off myself.

 

[Darl58]

I was in the ER last year the day before I left for the Alps, had a huge ring with a nasty sore in the center...thankfully I had the ring so they knew it was Lyme.. Dizzy, sick, fever...... They believed I had a second type of infection causing the center sore. They brought in the Infectious Disease specialist..........

Was put on the 2-part meds to fight infection and the Lyme. It was very difficult to take the meds properly while treking on the Glacier, due to sun and needing to re-fuel my body. The meds were suppose to be taken on empty stomach...

Get on the medication quickly to get it before it spreads into your system.

The test for Lyme came back twice as negative even though we all knew that I had it..Thankfully due to the ring they put me on the meds ASAP!

 

[roadtripper]

My primary care doctor's policy is to put patients on Doxycycline as a precaution if a deer tick has been attached for > 12 hours. He's never seen serious complications to the antibiotic. According to him, Lyme typically does not show up on tests for 4-6 weeks, so by then it can be too late.

Because I am taking the antibiotics, I'll never know if I actually had Lyme or not.

 

[Grayjay]

So I just pulled a nymph deer tick off my leg that must have been there for 2 days. Got it from Harold Parker State Forest in MA (aka Lyme territory)

Any recommendations? I know you aren't doctors but I trust you guys more than docs on lyme.

Did you save the tick? Send it to be tested.

 

[Elizabeth]

Tick Report from the Upper Valley

Here in west central NH we have been having a relatively mild tick year. I think that the thinner snow cover around here this year allowed the ground to freeze more deeply, killing off some of the wintering population. Last year and the year before (both snowier years) I would pull ticks off myself and/or the dogs almost everytime we went out from April through early June. This year it is only about once every three or four days. So far in NH I have not seen any deer ticks, only the "dog" ticks (a.k.a. wood ticks); but I have heard reports of others finding some deer ticks in the area.

The tick population usually tapers off mid-summer and has a small resurgence in late October into November.

 

[The Hikers]

While I have been able to collect deer ticks easily here on the seacoast whether in the woods or my own backyard, I saw none in the woods of North Conway last weekend. I assume as the weather warms, they will awake up there.

 

[The Hikers]

Hiked the Ossipee Range today. Picked off at least a dozen ticks from the trip.
Most were dog ticks.So they are out there in full force already.