Take a break and go for a hike!
It’s a healthy thing to do this time of year. Walking strengthens your muscles and builds endurance. And just being in nature reduces stress. Smelling the cool green leaves and sensing the peace of the woods help us to quiet the internal noise of a busy lifestyle. Walking is definitely a worthwhile activity.
But as we all know, nature also has a dark side. A sudden encounter with a skunk is a bad surprise, as is getting tangled up in poison ivy or being chased by a gigantic horse fly. To enjoy ourselves, we have learned to avoid the hazards that pop up while exploring the greenspaces of Knox County. There is, however, one more menace that deserves our attention—the tiny tick.
Ticks live in tall grasses, wooded areas, and in leaf litter. They travel by hitching a ride on a host like a mouse, deer or bird. This explains how Lyme disease (a tick-borne illness originally described in Lyme, CT) found its way into Ohio and every other U.S. state, except Hawaii.
Actually, ticks are vectors of several illnesses, including Lyme disease. Symptoms usually occur between 3 and 30 days. Very often, people develop a rash around the bite. The rash itself may be 2-6 inches in diameter. It is uniformly red, itchy, and mildly tender. If you develop a suspicious rash after being outdoors, it’s important to seek medical care as soon as possible.
“Treating Lyme disease is most successful in its early stages. Unfortunately, people may not be aware that they were bitten and may have mistaken the rash for something else, like a spider bite. Left untreated, tick-borne illnesses can cause more serious symptoms which include severe headaches, facial palsy, neuromuscular pain, arthritis, and heart function irregularities. So, early treatment is very important,” says Dr. Sunil Bhat, an infectious disease specialist at KCH.
To learn more, visit https://odh.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/odh/know-our-programs/zoonotic-disease-program/resources/tickborne-diseases.
