Tick-borne Lyme disease threat grows in Ohio as reported cases rise

WILLOUGHBY, Ohio — The beginning of July marks the official start of summer and the start of tick season.

You've probably seen posts on your social media pages from parents or neighbors who have found tiny spiders on themselves, their children or their pets and are worried about Lyme disease, an increasingly problematic disease.

“I think what's been so surprising over the last few years, especially for people who have lived in Ohio for a long time, is, 'Wait a minute, when I was a kid, I never worried about ticks, I never worried about putting on bug repellent when I went outside,' and that's true,” said Dr. Amy Edwards, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at University Hospitals.

“We've only seen Lyme disease in Ohio for the last five years or so. We've had sporadic cases from Pennsylvania and from travelers, and now it's happening here.”

“I've met with parents whose kids come into my clinic, and they're like, 'Wait a second, what's going on?' Things have certainly changed. We're seeing Lyme disease in Ohio, which we didn't see before 2019, and it's on the rise. We're seeing it earlier this year, and we're seeing more cases. So we need to be careful in Ohio, where we didn't have to be before.”

Chris Petrow of Eastlake understands that sentiment. “I have older dogs, and I want to keep them as active as possible,” he said, of his love of walking his boxer, Allie, through the Metroparks.

But in early June, he noticed a small swelling on his arm that was getting bigger and bigger.

“It started out as a little dot, a pimple-like thing, and then it got bigger and bigger, and then after four or five days, all of a sudden it took on what they call a target bull's-eye look,” he said of the bull's-eye pattern that can develop around the bite.

As the spots spread, he went to the emergency room, where he was prescribed antibiotics, then finally the emergency room, where he was prescribed stronger medication, and last week he tested positive for Lyme disease.

Edwards said taking immediate action was the right decision.

“If you get treatment at that point, you can avoid the symptoms. You don't often get the fever, the muscle pain, the headache, the cardiac complications, the joint complications,” she says. “If you treat Lyme disease early, you're not going to have any problems.”

She said there's one thing parents should be aware of as their children play this summer.

“Children generally don't show the bull's-eye rash, they don't show early symptoms of Lyme disease, and they often don't show symptoms until the later stages of Lyme disease, which is usually arthritis,” she said. “If a child has been playing outside all summer and suddenly their left knee swells in September, that's likely Lyme disease. So if your child is the type of kid who plays outside from morning until night, be sure to tell your pediatrician to get them tested for Lyme disease, even if it's just arthritis.”

The Ohio Department of Health has a Be Tick Smart campaign to educate the public on how to keep their families safe and how to properly remove ticks if they find them on their skin. The site also tracks Lyme disease cases across the state.

Petrow's case, which has just been confirmed, is likely the first of the season in Lake County. As he walked with Allie, he imagined how it could have happened.

“Usually when they're sniffing around the edges here, they pick up ticks that drop off of deer,” he said of the tall grasses and leaves beside the trail, “so when they touch little leaves and stuff, that's where the ticks go. They get ticks on their faces. They come up to you for affection, and when you give them affection, they give you ticks.”

Petrou never saw the tick that bit him, and thinks he probably just washed it off in the shower after the infestation without seeing it.

“What we really need is for people to know it's here and it's available,” he said.

If you are outdoors where ticks may be present, it is a good idea to wear a long-sleeved shirt, preferably a light-colored one, tucked into your long pants to make ticks easier to spot.

“You're basically giving the tick very little room to latch on,” Edwards says, “because it has to bite directly into the skin.”

She also recommends using repellents that contain DEET.

“DEET is two or three in one, it protects against mosquitoes,” she said, “it also protects against ticks, it protects against biting flies, and so on.”

She said the tick threat is mainly in wooded areas and areas that aren't mowed.

“If you're just playing on your grass in the suburbs, you don't have to worry. If you go to a Metropark, if you go off trail, if you go backpacking or hunting, you're at higher risk.”