What you need to know and how to stay safe | McLaren Healthcare News

July 14, 2023

Author: McLaren Flint

Thousands of Michigan residents are spending time outdoors this summer at locations such as campgrounds, golf courses, and hiking and walking trails in and around woodlands.

Whether their adventures are in the western Upper Peninsula, along the shores of Lake Michigan, or in the southern hinterlands of the state, they will be sharing the wilderness with disease-carrying ticks and other insects. many of them.

So how do you protect yourself? Cover as much skin as possible when going to grassy or wooded areas. Wear a hat, long-sleeved shirt, long pants, and tuck your feet into socks. You can also use insect repellents containing chemicals such as DEET, IR3535, and picaridin.

Always check your clothes for dust mites after going out, and put the clothes in the dryer on a high temperature cycle for 1 hour to kill any remaining mites. Also, he must take a shower within two hours of being indoors.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, If a tick is attached to the skin, it is important to remove it as soon as possible. However, if the tick is already engorged, it is best to have it removed by a medical professional.

The best way to remove a tick is to use tweezers to grasp the tick by its head and mouth so that the head and mouth are not stuck in the skin as you pull it away from where it is attached. If the tick is not attached to the skin, red bumps that look like mosquito bites and eye rashes may be signs of a tick bite, especially if the bumps are not itchy and disappear after a few days. there is.

Female black-footed ticks, also known as deer ticks, are responsible for the spread of Lyme disease. Adult male deer ticks attach and feed on humans, but do not remain attached long enough to transmit disease. A female black-footed tick usually needs to be attached to someone for more than 36 hours for Lyme disease to develop. However, it can be difficult to determine how long a tick has been attached to a person, as the time it takes for a tick to become visibly engorged varies from 2 to 30 hours for him.

“Lyme disease primarily affects the skin, joints, nervous system and heart,” he said. Dr. Shagfta Ali, FACP, Infectious disease specialist at McLaren Infectious Disease Clinic. “Lyme disease has a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations and can generally be divided into three stages: early localization, early disseminated and late disease. However, the clinical features of each stage may overlap. , and some patients may present with late-stage Lyme disease without a history of signs or symptoms suggestive of early Lyme disease.”

The three phases are:

Early localized disease: The first sign is characterized by the appearance of a typical skin lesion, a disease-related rash called erythema migrans (EM), with or without common symptoms such as fatigue and fever. EM usually occurs within a month of a tick bite.

Early disseminated disease: This condition is characterized by multiple EM lesions (usually occurring days to weeks after infection) and/or neurological and/or cardiac findings, usually occurring weeks to months after infection can be attached.

Late Lyme disease: This stage usually presents with intermittent or persistent arthritis involving one or several large joints, especially the knee, and/or certain rare neurological problems, mainly mild encephalopathy or polyneuropathy (confusion). ​​Agitation, neuralgia, tingling, and numbness). Late Lyme disease may develop months to years after the initial infection.

“All patients with EM skin rash should be treated for Lyme disease,” Dr. Ali said. “The goal of treatment is to shorten the duration of early signs and symptoms of the disease and prevent progression to later stages of Lyme disease. It is primarily treated with antibiotics for 10 to 14 days, but doxycycline , amoxicillin, and cefuroxime.”

Dr. Ali notes that even after treatment, non-specific symptoms of Lyme disease, such as headaches, fatigue and joint pain, can persist for months. There is no evidence that these persistent subjective complaints represent ongoing active infection, nor that repeated or long-term administration of antibiotics may provide any benefit.

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