It’s Tick Season In New Hampshire: Here’s What You Need To Know

NEW HAMPSHIRE — A milder than regular winter in New Hampshire is all the time factor whereas it’s occurring.

However it may be a nasty factor on the subject of ticks.

The gentle winter has led to an sooner than regular tick season within the Granite State, with officers reporting deer with Lyme illness this month. Most of the time, the tick season begins in June.

Usually, a tick chew doesn’t damage. However they’re usually so tiny they will go unnoticed — except the particular person contracts Lyme illness and its signs, in keeping with Dr. Jeffrey Parsonnet, a doctor in Infectious Illness and Worldwide Well being at Dartmouth Well being’s educational medical heart, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Middle (DHMC), and Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics.

“The traditional Lyme illness symptom is an increasing, flat rash that always seems to be like a bullseye,” he mentioned. “Different signs are flu-like — aches, stiffness, fatigue — and would possibly develop 5 to seven days after receiving a chew. Extra superior illness would possibly trigger swollen joints, an infection of nerves answerable for coronary heart rhythm regulation, or neurologic issues like Bell’s Palsy (partial face paralysis), ache in limbs or, not often, mind an infection.”

Lyme illness is critical however preventable, Parsonnet mentioned, when following tricks to maintain ticks away.

• Keep coated: Prevention begins with holding ticks off of your physique. Put on lengthy pants, socks, and lengthy sleeves when outside, and bug repellents containing DEET are extremely efficient.
• Verify your self totally: Ticks can connect wherever, so verify your total physique and your kids’s our bodies as properly. For those who do discover a tick, take away it with a pair of tweezers, making an attempt to take away as a lot as doable, however the physique will naturally reject bits left behind.
• Take away ticks instantly: A tick wants about 36 hours to transmit the Lyme micro organism. For those who discover a tick that has been hooked up for greater than 36 hours, a single, two-pill dose of the antibiotic doxycycline is extremely efficient at stopping Lyme illness.

Generally, a affected person can develop Lyme illness signs with out having a rash. In these circumstances, many physicians will deal with Lyme illness with a two- to three-week course of antibiotics, mentioned Parsonnet.

“There’s a diagnostic blood take a look at for Lyme, however it solely turns optimistic a month or so after an infection so it isn’t a helpful take a look at within the acute setting,” he mentioned.

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