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Texas Tick Brings Southern
Disease To Northeast
By Robin Foster
HealthScout Reporter
http://www.healthscout.com/
5-1-1

(HealthScout) - When you venture out in the woods this summer, watch out for the nasty southern cousin of the deer tick.
 
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.
 
"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.
 
Weld says his colleagues in New Jersey have found 2,000 to 3,000 lone star ticks in the woods within one hour.
 
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.
 
"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."
 
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.
 
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.
 
But that may change.
 
"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.
 
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.
 
"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.
 
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.
 
This may mean you need to head to the doctor sooner for treatment, he says.
 
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.
 
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.
 
What To Do
 
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.
 
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.
 
For more on how to avoid HME, go to the American Lyme Disease Foundation.
 
The CDC also has information on human ehrlichiosis in the United States.
 
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