- (HealthScout) - When you venture out in the woods this
summer, watch out for the nasty southern cousin of the deer tick.
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- Experts say the lone star tick, first discovered in Texas
and named for the white star that adorns the female's back, is working
its way north. And it's carrying a serious disease in its saliva.
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- "It's a pretty strong trend," says David Weld,
executive director of the American Lyme Disease Foundation. Once the most
common tick in the U.S. Southeast, the parasite now has been found in New
Jersey, southern Long Island and Connecticut.
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- Weld says his colleagues in New Jersey have found 2,000
to 3,000 lone star ticks in the woods within one hour.
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- Although they still account for only about 5 percent
of the entire tick population in the Northeast, the species carries human
monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME), which can cause more harm than Lyme disease,
Weld says.
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- "The disease hits you like a ton of bricks. It can
be fatal in some cases," says Weld. "It's not a disease you want
to fool around with."
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- HME is one of two ehrlichiosis bacteria carried
and spread
by ticks. The other is human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE), found in
the deer tick. Clinically identical, the symptoms for both diseases include
fatigue, high fever, muscle pain and severe headaches. In people
with weakened
immune systems, the diseases can be fatal, Weld says. Tetracycline is the
most effective treatment for both.
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- First recognized in the United States in 1986,
the ehrlichiosis
infections are considered emerging diseases by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC). Between 1986 and 1997, 1,223 cases
were reported
by 30 states. Of those, 742 were HME and 449 were HGE. The types
of ehrlichiosis
in the others were unknown. Most cases of HME were reported in
the southeastern
and south central parts of the country, CDC statistics show.
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- But that may change.
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- "New Jersey has been the northernmost spot [for
lone star ticks], then Long Island," says Kirby Stafford, who heads
the Connecticut Department of Forestry and Horticulture for the state's
Agricultural Experiment Station. And now these ticks are being found in
the southwestern parts of Connecticut.
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- Stafford says although HME is a "serious
disease,"
it's not nearly as common as Lyme disease. In Connecticut, health officials
have seen only three to seven cases of HME a year, while 3,754 cases of
Lyme disease were reported in the state in 2000.
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- "We know it's here in the state. The cases are low,
but it's another disease physicians need to be aware of," Stafford
says.
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- Victims need to be aware that, unlike the deer tick,
the bite of the lone star tick can be painful. Stafford says the lone star
tick's mouthparts are longer than its cousin's, so it digs deeper into
your skin. And the larvae can cause nasty rashes. "It's a
very annoying
tick," he says.
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- This may mean you need to head to the doctor sooner for
treatment, he says.
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- Knowing you have Lyme disease before it progresses has
always been a problem since the deer tick's bite is painless, experts say.
Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne infection in the
United States,
although the most recent statistics from the CDC showed a 3 percent drop
in cases in 1999. In 1998, a record year, there were 16,801 cases of Lyme
disease, but that number dropped to 16,019 the next year. It
often manifests
itself through a skin rash that looks like a red circle, and early symptoms
include fatigue, headache, fever, muscle stiffness and joint pain.
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- Not to be outdone by its mobile, northward-moving cousin,
the deer tick has been carrying Lyme disease down to Texas, Weld says.
More than 1,680 cases of the disease have been reported there
since 1990.
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- What To Do
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- Since the height of the tick season is upon us, experts
suggest you protect yourself by avoiding tick-infested areas,
wearing light-colored
clothing, tucking pant legs inside boots or shoes, spraying
insect repellant
on your clothing and skin and walking in the middle of trails while you're
hiking through the woods.
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- If you really want to be proactive, the American Lyme
Disease Foundation is licensing a product called the 4-Poster Deer Feeder,
which would attract deer to a feeding bin where paint rollers would rub
insect repellant on the deer's backs as they eat. But you have to shell
out at least $350 to $450 for the extra protection.
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- For more on how to avoid HME, go to the American Lyme
Disease Foundation.
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- The CDC also has information on human ehrlichiosis in
the United States.
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