Preventing Lyme Disease

It's tick season, but gardeners, hikers, and others enjoying the great outdoors shouldn't let concerns about Lyme disease keep them inside. A few tips to keep ticks away, and some advice from infectious diseases doctors about Lyme disease, should help you enjoy the spring and summer weather, as per the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), a medical professional association representing the nation's foremost experts in Lyme and other infectious diseases.

"With tick season upon us, it's important to put Lyme disease into perspective," said Gary P. Wormser, MD, chairman of the IDSA expert panel on Lyme disease and chief, division of infectious diseases, department of medicine, New York Medical College, Valhalla. "The vast majority, more than 95 percent, of people who do contract the disease are easily treated and cured with short-term antibiotic treatment."

Lyme disease caused by Borrelia burgdorferi is a bacterial infection transmitted by a particular type of tick that typically feeds on small mammals, birds and deer but may also feed on cats, dogs and humans. Eventhough the disease has been reported in nearly all states, most cases are concentrated in the Mid-Atlantic and northeast states. Many cases also have been reported in Wisconsin, Minnesota and northern California.

Most people who are infected have a circular, red rash surrounding the site of a tick bite, swelling in their joints and, sometimes, facial paralysis. "The symptoms are sometimes alarming, but with proper diagnosis and therapy almost all will go away in a few weeks," Dr. Wormser said.

Preventing Lyme Disease
"The best method for managing Lyme disease is to avoid tick-infested areas. If exposure to ticks is unavoidable, measures should be taken to decrease the risk that ticks will attach to the skin," he said. Some simple steps to avoid the tick bites that cause Lyme disease include:.

• Wear protective, light-colored clothing that minimizes exposed skin and provides a contrast to ticks, making them more visible.
• Use tick and insect repellents and apply them to your exposed skin or clothing, following directions on product labels.
• If you are outdoors and may have been exposed to ticks, check your entire body every day to locate and remove ticks, particularly at the end of the day.
• Check children's skin thoroughly, including skin folds and the head, scalp and neck area.

Posted by: Mark    Source