With mild winter weather, ticks could be more prevalent this summer, which is why local doctors and veterinarians are urging residents to watch out while outside.
“I think if you’re outside and you’re going in the woods or tall grass, you should screen yourself for ticks,” said Dr. Tim O’Neill of the Clarkston Medical Group.
While there are many different types of ticks, the one people and animals are urged to watch out for is the Black Legged Deer Tick, scientifically known as “Ixodes scapularis,” because it’s known to carry diseases, the most common being Lyme disease.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), typical symptoms of Lyme disease include fever, headache, fatigue, and a characteristic skin rash called erythema migrans. If left untreated, infection can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system.
O’Neill said the rash can get “quite big.”
“It can be a couple centimeters in diameter and it kind of grows out from the area and spreads away from it,” he said. “It can take three or four weeks until that develops after the bite.”
In most cases the tick must be attached between 36-48 hours or more before the Lyme Disease bacterium can be transmitted.
O’Neill said if someone has had tick exposure or believes they might have Lyme Disease, they should immediately consult with their doctor, noting all proven cases of Lyme Disease has to be reported. According to O’Neill, CDC has true diagnostic criteria they recommend be used.
Lyme Disease is curable, but early prevention is best. MDNR recommends wearing long pants tucked into boots or socks and wear long-sleeved shirts buttoned at the cuff, using tick repellents containing 0.5 percent permethrin or mosquito repellents containing 30 percent DEET and examine clothing, skin and pets for ticks and remove them promptly.
O’Neill said people can remove the ticks with tweezers and actually bring the tick in to have it sent to the lab be tested to see if it is carrying any disease or not.
Lyme Disease is rare, particularly in Michigan. According to CDC website, since 2005 Michigan has had anywhere from 55 on the low side to 114 on the high side in 2013.
If people have had a tick bite by the black legged tick ichthodes species, O’Neill said they usually give them preventative antibiotics.
Check your pets regularly
Dr. Jill Sheldon, an associate veterinarian with Advanced Pet Care of Oakland on Sashabaw Road, said they see a lot of ticks on dogs.
“This year we’re definitely seeing a ton,” she said. “We had a rescue dog come in the other day and had like 30 ticks, all inside of the ears.”
Sheldon said the ticks often like to hide in the ears, mouth, and arm pits, so they’re not always obvious.
The risk factor for dogs or animals getting ticks is higher anywhere there are deer, she said.
“An adult deer can have up to 50 ticks on it at any time or more and one tick can lay 50 eggs in just a matter of days,” she said. “It’s a very gross, very easy problem to have, but you can do preventatives as well. There are a lot of medications we have for dogs available that we can treat and prevent for ticks and it will kill ticks.”
Besides just the Lyme Disease, Sheldon said they see a lot of tick-born diseases as well, such as ehrlichia and anaplasmosis.
“We see positives all the time for those,” she said. “Most of the time we see blood problems from them, so they’ll have low platelets, but they can have fevers and things like that. For Lyme Disease our biggest symptom we see is lameness, lethargy and they just don’t feel good, they’re tired. The biggest thing we worry about in Lyme Disease in dogs, it’s rare but it can happen, is something called Lymes nephrites, which is inflammation is their kidneys and causes kidney failure.”
Sheldon said they urge dog owners especially to get their pets checked and tested once a year for tick diseases. She said they offer a heartworm test that also tests for three tick-born diseases.
“Ticks are definitely becoming a bigger, bigger problem every single year,” she said. “Just in our clinic we probably get about a positive a month for some sort of tick disease and we’re just a small practice. You think about throughout Michigan – there are other areas that have it worse than us.”
Ticks can be sent to Michigan State University to be tested for disease. If pet owners don’t save the tick, Sheldon recommends they bring their pets in about 30 days afterwards to have them tested.
For more information on ticks and recommendations for both humans and animals visit www.michigan.gov/dnr www.michigan.gov/lymedisease and www.cdc.gov/lyme/index.html.