Lyme Disease
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, more than 3,000 Pennsylvanians get Lyme disease every year. To get the disease, you have to be bitten by an infected deer tick. Luckily, only a small percentage of people bitten by deer ticks ever get the disease. Here are some great ways to protect yourself courtesy of the CDC:
Avoid areas with a lot of ticks
- Ticks prefer wooded and bushy areas with high grass and a lot of leaves.
- Take extra precautions in May, June, and July. This is when ticks that transmit Lyme disease are most active.
- If you do enter a tick area, walk in the center of the trail to avoid contact with overgrown grass, brush, and leaves.
Keep ticks off your skin
- Use insect repellent with 20% - 30% DEET on exposed skin and clothing to prevent tick bites.
- Permethrin is another type of repellent. It can be purchased at outdoor equipment stores that carry camping or hunting gear. Permethrin kills ticks on contact! One application to pants, socks, and shoes typically stays effective through several washings. Permethrin should not be applied directly to skin.
- Wear long pants, long sleeves, and long socks to keep ticks off your skin. Light-colored clothing will help you spot ticks more easily. Tucking pant legs into socks or boots and tucking shirts into pants help keep ticks on the outside of clothing. If you’ll be outside for an extended period of time, tape the area where your pants and socks meet to prevent ticks from crawling under your clothes.
Check your skin and clothes for ticks every day
- Remove ticks from your clothes before going indoors. To kill ticks that you may have missed, wash your clothes with hot water and dry them using high heat for at least one hour.
- Perform daily tick checks after being outdoors, even in your own yard. Inspect all parts of your body carefully including your armpits, scalp, and groin. Remove ticks immediately using tweezers.
- If a tick is attached to your skin for less than 24 hours, your chance of getting Lyme disease is extremely small. But just to be safe, monitor your health closely after a tick bite and be alert for any signs and symptoms of tick-borne illness.
Create a tick-safe zone
Use landscaping techniques to create a tick-safe zone around homes, parks, and recreational areas. Ticks that transmit Lyme disease thrive in humid wooded areas. They die quickly in sunny and dry environments. Here are some simple landscaping techniques to help reduce tick populations.
- Remove leaf litter and clear tall grasses and brush around homes and at the edges of lawns.
- Place wood chips or gravel between lawns and wooded areas to restrict tick migration to recreational areas.
- Mow the lawn and clear brush and leaf litter frequently.
- Keep the ground under bird feeders clean.
- Stack wood neatly and in dry areas.
- Keep playground equipment, decks and patios away from yard edges and trees.
Ask your doctor if taking an antibiotic after a tick bite is right for you
Although this is not routinely recommended, it may be beneficial for some persons. Discuss with your health care provider whether the advantages of prescribing an antibiotic after tick bite outweigh the disadvantages. Taking an antibiotic may be right for you if:
- You are at least 8 years of age and not pregnant.
- You were in an area where Lyme disease is common when you acquired the tick bite.
- The tick was attached for at least one full day.
- It has been less than three days since you removed the tick or since it fell off of you.
Lyme Disease Symptoms
The Lyme disease bacterium can infect several parts of the body, producing different symptoms at different times. Not all patients with Lyme disease will have all symptoms, and many of the symptoms can occur with other diseases as well. If you believe you may have Lyme disease, it is important that you consult your health care provider for proper diagnosis.
The first sign of infection is usually a circular rash. This rash occurs in approximately 70-80% of infected persons and begins at the site of a tick bite after a delay of 3-30 days. A distinctive feature of the rash is that it gradually expands over a period of several days, reaching up to 12 inches (30 cm) across. The center of the rash may clear as it enlarges, resulting in a bull’s-eye appearance. It may be warm but is not usually painful. Some patients develop additional lesions in other areas of the body after several days. Patients also experience symptoms of fatigue, chills, fever, headache, and muscle and joint aches, and swollen lymph nodes. In some cases, these may be the only symptoms of infection.
Untreated, the infection may spread to other parts of the body within a few days to weeks, producing an array of symptoms. These include loss of muscle tone on one or both sides of the face (called facial or “Bell’s palsy), severe headaches and neck stiffness due to meningitis, shooting pains that may interfere with sleep, heart palpitations and dizziness due to changes in heartbeat, and pain that moves from joint to joint. Many of these symptoms will resolve, even without treatment.
After several months, approximately 60% of patients with untreated infection will begin to have intermittent bouts of arthritis, with severe joint pain and swelling. Large joints are most often affected, particularly the knees. In addition, up to 5% of untreated patients may develop chronic neurological complaints months to years after infection. These include shooting pains, numbness or tingling in the hands or feet, and problems with concentration and short term memory.
Most cases of Lyme disease can be cured with antibiotics, especially if treatment is begun early in the course of illness. However, a small percentage of patients with Lyme disease have symptoms that last months to years after treatment with antibiotics. These symptoms can include muscle and joint pains, arthritis, cognitive defects, sleep disturbance, or fatigue.
To get answers to all your lyme disease cancer questions, visit our list of Recommended Sites. PhillyHealthInfo.org is here to help you find Lyme disease support groups and treatment programs in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia County. Our health services list in the blue box on the right side of the page is a good place to start
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