LYME DISEASE โ ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW
Lyme disease is mostly spread from ticks to humans. This results in an average of 300,000 new cases each year. Find out more information about this disease and how to keep you and your family safe by avoiding ticks.
What is Lyme Disease?
- Lyme disease is one of the most common vector-borne diseases.
- The bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi is what causes Lyme disease.
- Infected ticks transmit it through their bites.
- Lyme disease can cause a host of health problems that are more common in other health conditions and diseases, making it very difficult to diagnose.
- A diagnosis is usually made based on the likelihood that the patient came in contact with a tick as well as the symptoms that the patient is experiencing.
Symptoms associated with Lyme Disease:
As with most diseases, the sooner Lyme disease is diagnosed, the better. Unfortunately, Lyme disease looks much like many others, which means patients are often misdiagnosed several times before the correct diagnosis is made. Depending on the progression of Lyme disease, symptoms range from mild to debilitating.
- Early signs of Lyme Disease:
- In 70-80% of infected people, a rash will form between 3 and 30 days after the bite.
- This rash usually forms where the tick bite took place and can spread to be as large as 12 or more inches in diameter.
- This rash takes on a bulls-eye appearance and rarely causes pain.
- Other signs of early Lyme Disease:
The following symptoms are common in infected people in the first 3 to 30 days of infection.
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- Fever
- Chills
- Headache
- Neck pain
- Fatigue
- Muscle aches
- Joint aches
- Swollen lymph nodes
- Sleep issues
- Sweats
- Later signs of Lyme Disease:
After being bitten by a tick, you can experience more debilitating symptoms for several months afterwards.
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- Facial palsy
- Nerve pain
- Difficulty speaking
- Light sensitivity
- Severe headaches
- Stiff neck
- Brain and spinal cord inflammation
- Shortness of breath
- Seizures
- Decreased hearing
- Pain in tendons, muscles, joints, and bones
- Arthritis
- Night sweats
- Confusion
- Depression
- Back pain
If you were bitten by a tick and experience any symptoms associated with Lyme disease, you should seek medical attention right away.
Prevention
Ticks can often be found outside in dark moist areas. They hide away in tall grass, logs, branches, and fallen leaves. If you live in an area where ticks are common, it is important to be aware of the steps you can take before, during, and after any outside activities to prevent tick bites.
Before you go outside, there are a few things you can do to protect yourself.
- Become aware of all the areas in which you are most likely to encounter ticks around your home.
- Wear a hat and light-colored, thick clothing that covers your whole body. If you are frequently in areas where ticks are found, you may even want to consider checking out clothing that is treated with the repellent permethrin.
- Apply tick repellents.
- While youโre out, it is best to avoid wooded and brushy areas where ticks tend to hide. Stay on trails and avoid venturing off into tall grass.
When returning from an outing do the following:
- Remove your clothing, examine it for ticks, and throw it into the dryer for 10 minutes. This will kill any ticks that you may not have found on your clothing.
- Then, take a shower and be careful to examine your whole body for ticks. They are most often found around ears, in hair, under arms, inside belly buttons, around the waist, between the legs, and around the back of knees.
- Then, carefully examine any pets that went on the outing with you to be sure no ticks latched onto their skin.
If you often have tick infestations, the best thing to do is to regularly get your pets treated for ticks as well as call us at Sydneyโs Best Pest Control to do an annual tick treatment at your home to prevent any nasty surprises.
If you have a tick infestation that needs to be sorted out, then call us on 1800 819 189 or email us using our easyย contact us form.
Further Reading
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