10%-15% fatality rate is scary.

Two new cases of a dangerous and potentially fatal tick-borne illness have health officials in Maine on high alert as agencies across the nation brace for a particularly high-population tick season. The patients, who were not identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), contracted Powassan virus, which differs from Lyme disease as it can be transferred from tick to human in a matter of minutes.

“It’s a virus, whereas Lyme is a bacteria,” Dr. Kent Holtorf, a Lyme disease expert and medical director of Holtorf Medical Group, told Fox News. “If you catch Lyme early, antibiotics can eradicate it, but with a virus, you have much less options to do anything about it.”

Holtorf added that the symptoms of Powassan are more severe than Lyme, and can quickly reach a patient’s brain, leaving them susceptible to long-term neurological damage. The patients in Maine began presenting symptoms in late April and were hospitalized with encephalitis. They’ve since been discharged and are continuing to recover. Not all patients will have symptoms and will not be impacted by the infection, but those who are may experience fever, headache, vomiting, weakness, confusion, seizures and memory loss. In 10-15 percent of cases, the virus proves fatal.

Holtorf said people who are most likely to be symptomatic are those who are immunosuppressed or those who have previously contracted tick-borne illnesses like West Nile, Dengue and Lyme disease.

“In terms of the risk of you getting it, it’s very low,” Holtorf said, citing an average of seven cases reported annually by the CDC. “But there are going to be people that are going to get it, and though most won’t have symptoms, there are going to be people that are going to have severe brain damage from it — so it is concerning that you’re normal one day, and a few weeks later, you’re on a respirator and never the same again.”

According to the CDC, the two most recent cases brings Maine’s total count to nine since 2000. Holtorf said the overall recent spike in tick-borne illnesses likely has to do with the warmer temperatures during the two previous winters, and that the pests are developing mutated versions of some diseases.

“These things are mutating, and it’s becoming a scary world out there,” he said.

While officials in the state are calling for hikers and others who choose to head outdoors to be vigilant, politicians and health agencies in other states are making similar pleas. In New York City, where more than 8,000 people were diagnosed with Lyme disease over the past 15 years, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) called for greater federal funding to fight against the disease.

Holtorf cited CDC recommendations to use tick repellent with DEET, and advised people who enjoy the outdoors to wear long pants, tuck jeans into pants or socks, and conduct frequent tick checks.

“With Lyme, you go back, take a shower and check yourself for ticks because you have time,” he said. “The problem with this is you don’t have much time.”


http://www.foxnews.com/health/...ported-in-maine.html

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and conduct frequent tick checks.

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Originally posted by olfuzzy:
the two most recent cases brings Maine’s total count to nine since 2000.

It's about to overtake da 'bola in dangerousness.

And its just my luck that Maine is one of the states we're scheduled to he hiking late this summer. Just terrific!

Just a reminder, the main tick season is Spring to early Summer. They do taper off a fair bit after mid Summer, though any time above 40 or so one has the potential of getting a tick.

It comes down to precautions for man & his best friend.

quote:

Originally posted by olfuzzy:

According to the CDC, the two most recent cases brings Maine’s total count to nine since 2000.

Guessing you're much more likely to get hit by lightning than catch this. It's the new public health scare like West Nile, da 'bola etc. Field and stream had an article on it late last year/early this year.

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Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) called for greater federal funding to fight against the disease.

Is there ever any other solution in Chuckie's playbook?

Too bad we can't get more funding to fight rhe parasites in DC!

Not much help for this year, but there is a strategy advocated by some that I want to try.

Ticks have two stages. An adolescent nymph like stage, and an adult stage. 1st year nymph, 2nd year adult.

Take cardboard tubes like from paper towels or tp, or use short lengths of pvc. Get cotton balls and soak them in permethrin and stuff them into the tubes. Place the tubes around your property in out of the way places.

Field mice and other critters will use the cotton to line their burrows. This is key because the adolescent stage ticks only get on small critters. The permethrin will kill off the adolescent ticks and on year two you should see a drastic reduction of ticks in your area.

Keep the tubes filled and by year two, the cycle is broken.


I've always wanted to try it, but as we have free range chickens, there is no need. Even though we are in major tick country, we rarely see them before the chickens do.

With the warm winter there will probably be increased tick problems across the country.

Keep one of these in your pack
https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod...ilpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I use Tea Tree Oil which will suffocate the tick and sterilize the area. Usually the tick falls off or backs out.

I have never seen ticks this bad before. Always would pick a couple off me when I was down at the cabin that was to be expected.
I have been picking them off of me and the boys left and right just from playing in the yard in suburbia.

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Originally posted by 41:
I use Tea Tree Oil which will suffocate the tick and sterilize the area. Usually the tick falls off or backs out.

I don't know if it's true, but I recently read something about how suffocating them with oils or Vaseline can make them vomit, which is problematic.

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MYTH 3 – Ticks can be suffocated so they drop off on their own!

Incorrect. A tick breathes through openings in its sides called ‘spiracles’. It only breathes around 1 – 15 times per hour. Using solutions such as alcohol, aftershave, oils / butter, paraffin, petroleum jelly or nail polish, to try to suffocate a tick, may cause it to regurgitate (vomit) saliva and gut contents as it tries to disengage its mouth parts and escape the irritating solution. Whilst this method may cause the tick to drop off, it may also increase the risk of disease-causing organisms entering the bloodstream of the person or animal the tick is attached to.
http://www.bada-uk.org/correct-tick-removal

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Originally posted by bigdeal:
And its just my luck that Maine is one of the states we're scheduled to he hiking late this summer. Just terrific!

Use Sawyers tick repellent. I live in tick infested Long Island NY. When bow hunting in early fall we deal with a ton of them. If you spray your clothes and shoes with Sawyers and put them in a plastic bag, you should be OK.

Yes, they are bad this year due to the warm winter. However, I just returned from living a week in a tent near Jackman, and saw nary a tick. Two reasons; 1. The further north you go, the fewer ticks you see. 2. I sprayed my clothes with permethrin which I have found does indeed work well.