Tick season starting early this year
April 23, 2012 in Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
Expert urges hikers, gardeners and others to know the signs of tick-borne diseases.
(HealthDay) -- Tick season has started earlier than normal due to the mild winter, which means hikers, gardeners and others who love the outdoors should take precautions to prevent becoming a meal for ticks, an expert says.
People also should keep alert for symptoms of tick-borne diseases.
In Minnesota, patients already are testing positive for tick-borne diseases such as Lyme disease, anaplasmosis and babesiosis -- a month or two earlier than normal for the state, said Dr. Bobbi Pritt, a microbiologist and director of the Clinical Parasitology and Virology Laboratories at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Lyme disease and anaplasmosis both are caused by bacteria carried by ticks, while babesiosis is a parasite that infects red blood cells.
But there are a number of things people can do to protect themselves from ticks.
"The first thing is just tick avoidance -- staying out of areas where ticks are going to be present: tall grasses, shrubs, leaf litter," Pritt said in a Mayo Clinic news release.
"Also use insect repellant, such as DEET," Pritt added. "You can also buy clothing that has been impregnated with pyrethroids, which is another type of insect repellant, and there are certain types of insect repellants for pets."
Some other tips:
- Keep grass short in yards and don't go into overgrown areas.
- Wear long clothing to prevent ticks from accessing your skin.
- After spending time outdoors, thoroughly check yourself, your children and your pets for ticks.
- Stay on trails when you hike. If you leave the path, wear long pants tucked into your socks.
- If you find ticks, remove them immediately. Pinch the tick near its mouth and pull it out slowly in a continuous motion. Don't twist the tick because doing so may leave mouth parts embedded in the skin.
More information: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about ticks.
Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
-
Mayo Clinic finds new bacterium causing tick-borne illness ehrlichiosis in Wisconsin and Minnesota
Aug 04, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
New tick-borne disease discovered
Sep 20, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Lyme Disease 'App' For iPhone Developed by Yale School of Public Health
May 04, 2010 |
not rated yet |
0
-
URI entomologist predicts early tick season, high infection rate
May 07, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Lone Star tick migrates to Long Island
Jul 07, 2006 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Motion perception revisited: High Phi effect challenges established motion perception assumptions
Apr 23, 2013 |
3 / 5 (2) |
2
-
Anything you can do I can do better: Neuromolecular foundations of the superiority illusion (Update)
Apr 02, 2013 |
4.5 / 5 (11) |
5
-
The visual system as economist: Neural resource allocation in visual adaptation
Mar 30, 2013 |
5 / 5 (2) |
9
-
Separate lives: Neuronal and organismal lifespans decoupled
Mar 27, 2013 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
0
-
Sizing things up: The evolutionary neurobiology of scale invariance
Feb 28, 2013 |
4.8 / 5 (10) |
14
-
Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras
Apr 15, 2011
- More from Physics Forums - Independent Research
More news stories
WHO: Scientific red tape mars efforts vs. virus
International efforts to combat a new pneumonia-like virus that has now killed 22 people are being slowed by unclear rules and competition for the potentially profitable rights to disease samples, the head ...
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
9 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Shortage of key drug hampering U.S. efforts to control TB, report says
(HealthDay)—A shortage of a critical tuberculosis drug has hampered the efforts of health departments across the United States to contain the spread of the highly infectious lung disease, federal officials ...
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
9 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Heart healthy lifestyle may cut kidney disease patients' risk of kidney failure
Maintaining a heart healthy lifestyle may also help protect chronic kidney disease patients from developing kidney failure and dying prematurely, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the Am ...
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
10 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Flu vaccine also linked to narcolepsy in adults, study reports
Finnish researchers unveiled new data Thursday to link the Pandemrix flu vaccine to a higher risk of the sleeping disorder narcolepsy in adults.
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
10 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Second child contracts polio in Pakistan's Waziristan
A second child has contracted polio in a restive Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border after the Taliban banned vaccinations there nearly a year ago, a UN official said Thursday.
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
11 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Controlling mood through the motions of mitochondria
(Medical Xpress)—Regulating the distribution of power in neurons is done by a system that makes the national electric grid look simple by comparison. Each neuron has several thousand mitochondria confined ...
Motion quotient: IQ predicted by ability to filter motion (w/ video)
A brief visual task can predict IQ, according to a new study. This surprisingly simple exercise measures the brain's unconscious ability to filter out visual movement. The study shows that individuals whose ...
Multiple research teams unable to confirm high-profile Alzheimer's study
Teams of highly respected Alzheimer's researchers failed to replicate what appeared to be breakthrough results for the treatment of this brain disease when they were published last year in the journal Science.
Scientists discover molecule triggers sensation of itch
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health report they have discovered in mouse studies that a small molecule released in the spinal cord triggers a process that is later experienced in the brain as ...
Researchers find common childhood asthma unconnected to allergens or inflammation
Little is known about why asthma develops, how it constricts the airway or why response to treatments varies between patients. Now, a team of researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College, Columbia University Medical Center ...
Diabetes' genetic underpinnings can vary based on ethnic background, studies say
Ethnic background plays a surprisingly large role in how diabetes develops on a cellular level, according to two new studies led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.