This is done by either carefully using tweezers to remove the tick from the base or using a tick remover, which looks like a small crowbar. She said the most effective way to prevent tick-borne illness is to keep ticks off you in the first place by wearing light colored clothes, wearing long pants, using EPA-approved bug repellant, avoiding shaded areas along the edge of forests where ticks are more common and doing regular tick checks after being outside.īaker added that ticks should also be removed as soon as you see them “because the longer it's attached, the higher the chances are that disease could be transmitted.”Īnd ticks need to be removed properly. Molly Baker, the Vector-Borne Disease Surveillance Coordinator with the Missouri Department of Health & Human Services, keeps track of tick-borne disease in the state. Hudman said "edge areas," or the line where fields meet the woods, is the most likely place people and animals will pick up ticks. Rebecca Smith/KBIA Deb Hudman has collected thousands of ticks during her career, and she developed a system for "flagging," where she can interchange the flannel sheets used to collect ticks between sites. Serious illness can be prevented in most cases by treatment with the antibiotic doxycycline within days of symptoms. “Usually they'll present with high fever, real high like 104 degrees, bad headache, aches all over plus (or) minus a rash,” Roland said. He added that while some symptoms can be very specific to each disease - like spots for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, a skin ulcer for Tularemia or the well-known bullseye rash of Lyme disease - almost all tick-borne bacterial diseases begin the same. Roland said they do see cases of Lyme, as well as Alpha-Gal, which is an allergy to red meat caused by a bite from a Lone Star tick. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Missouri is one of the hotspots for both Ehrlichiosisand Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever - ranking among the top five states for both illnesses. He said the most common tick-borne illnesses in Missouri are Ehrlichiosis, Tularemia and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. So, these can lead to death when not treated, or (when) improperly treated.” “That being said, we have seen patients fever more than 60 days with Ehrlichiosis. “These are more acute illnesses, they're not associated with long-term morbidity or mortality,” Roland said. William Roland, a professor of clinical medicine and an infectious disease expert with MU Health Care, said not everyone who gets bit by a tick will contract a disease and develop symptoms.īut even if they do, most are mild illnesses that usually only present serious problems for those who are older than 40, very young or immunocompromised. William Roland, an infectious disease doctor with MU Health Care, said if someone comes in with "flu-like symptoms" in the summer and has been spending time outside – he and others will prescribe the antiobiotic doxyclincie, which can prevent the onset of severe tick-borne illness. If it's viral, well, then you're just on for the ride anyways.” "So, the diagnosis is not that hugely important. “The good news is that with all of these bacterial pathogens, they're all treated the same," Hudman said. Bacterial diseases like Ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness, and Lyme disease, as well as several viral infections like Bourbon virus and Heartland virus. The study, Hudman notes, was limited by what ticks were sent in, but many tick diseases were found to be present in Missouri. She said it’s important for Missourians to note that ticks are more than just a “woods problem,” as they were found throughout the state – not just in rural areas. In total, Hudman said that at least two ticks were submitted from every county and 17,466 usable ticks were submitted through the mail. She added that 71% of those were Lone Star tick, 26% were the American Dog tick, 2% were the Blacklegged (Deer tick) and the remaining 1% consisted of five different species. This tick is know to transmit diseases like Ehrlichiosis, Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness (STARI), Tularemia, the Bourbon and Heartland viruses, as well as the red meat allergy caused by a tick bite called Alpha Gal. Rebecca Smith/KBIA / The Lone Star tick is the most common tick in Missouri and the female of the species is easily recognized by the white spot on it's back.
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