Here in Southern NH it is early June and the deer ticks aka black leg tick that carry several very serious diseases, such as Lyme Disease, are very active. A 15 minute walk on our back lawn near woods produced 5 deer ticks on my wife and dog. My pants were sprayed with permethrin thus none crawled on me.
The primary disease they can carry is Lyme Disease but here in NH the diseases according to NH DHHS include:
- Lyme disease (most common reported tickborne disease)
- Anaplasmosis
- Babesiosis
- Powassan virus and
- Borrelia miyamotoi.
Symptoms (from NH DHHS)
Many tickborne diseases will present, at first, with nonspecific symptoms that may include:
- Fever,
- Chills,
- Malaise (not feeling well),
- Headache,
- Muscle and joint pain, and
- Lymphadenopathy (enlarged lymph nodes).
Some may also present with other systemic (body systems) symptoms, such as:
- Neurological,
- Cardiovascular, and
- Gastrointestinal symptoms.
Powassan virus infection, in particular, can progress to meningoencephalitis (inflammation of the brain and membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord).
- About 10% of Powassan encephalitis cases are fatal (cause death).
- About half of those who survive the clinical disease have permanent neurological sequelae (nervous system injury/damage).
As an Outdoorsman, I am acutely aware, but these ticks are sneaky, and I have been bitten several times. Luckily, I discovered them early or took a prescribed medicine by pill such as Doxycycline to destroy the bacteria.
My primary defense is awareness, and to spray clothing and shoes/sneakers with Permethrin. You can buy it as a spray in the camping section of most department stores. And when inside, change clothes and do a tick check in front of a mirror.
Also you can put suspect clothing in a dryer for say 20 minutes or so to kill the ticks.
Stay Safe!
