It is a unhealthy tick season : NPR

ANDREW LIMBONG, HOST:

It is trying like a foul yr for tick bites. Knowledge from the CDC present persons are looking for emergency care on the highest charges since 2019. So if you’re planning a hike or a visit to the park and also you need to keep away from these blood-sucking bugs, NPR’s Pien Huang has some suggestions that can assist you fend them off.

PIEN HUANG, BYLINE: There are a couple of dozen totally different ticks within the U.S. that may trigger issues for human well being. Within the northeast, mid-Atlantic and higher Midwest, the largest downside is Lyme illness. Thomas Hart is an infectious illness microbiologist at Johns Hopkins College in Maryland. He says Lyme illness is transmitted by contaminated deer ticks.

THOMAS HART: You may encounter these ticks actually at any time of the yr, however they will be essentially the most lively in hotter months, they usually are likely to reside in woody or grassy areas.

HUANG: Within the central and southeastern U.S., ehrlichiosis and noticed fever rickettsiosis are prime issues, together with a tick-induced allergy to crimson meat. Tick bites are much less frequent within the west, however in addition they occur there and might unfold Lyme illness, anaplasmosis and some different issues. So if all of that is making you itchy, Alison Hinckley, an epidemiologist with CDC, says there are precautions you possibly can take.

ALISON HINCKLEY: You may put on insect-repellent-treated clothes. We name that permethrin-treated clothes. That is a very easy factor to do.

HUANG: Cowl up as a lot pores and skin as attainable and examine your self every day.

HINCKLEY: Showering if you are available in from exterior actually has proven to be a great way to forestall tick-borne illnesses.

HUANG: That is as a result of the longer a tick feeds on you, the upper the chance of an infection. So in the event you discover a tick, take it off immediately. The easiest way is to make use of tweezers, seize it as near the pores and skin as you possibly can, and discover out what sort of tick it’s and the way lengthy it has been feeding on you. If it is a deer tick and also you’re in an space the place Lyme illness is frequent, Hinckley says see a health care provider.

HINCKLEY: The one time you’d get an antibiotic after a tick chunk and earlier than any signs, it will be to forestall Lyme illness. And in that case, we suggest only a single dose.

HUANG: In any other case, look ahead to signs like fever, aches and rash. If these present up, Hinckley says, search medical care. You would not be alone. Some 31 million folks get tick bites annually.

Pien Huang, NPR Information.

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