Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses on the rise in W.Va.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – West Virginia has a high number of Lyme disease cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

West Virginia’s central epidemiologist, Dr. Dan Barker, said Lyme Disease cases almost doubled this year.

“Usually every year our Lyme numbers nearly double,” Barker said. “Ticks are expanding into new areas they have not been before. Also, West Virginia is a very outdoorsy state.”

So far, West Virginia has had more than 830 cases of Lyme disease and more than 200 of those cases were reported in Kanawha County alone.

Barker said many tick-borne illnesses present themselves as a rash.

“It is headache, stiffness in the joints, maybe a slight fever or cough. A couple tick illnesses have a GI component to them; you may feel nauseous,” Barker said.

If a tick is attached, it is important to remove correctly to prevent infection. Much more information about ticks and tick-borne diseases can be found here.

“Lift is straight up, don’t pull it at an angle or anything,” Barker said. “If the tick is not fully engorged with blood, if it is not full of blood, you don’t have too much to worry about.”

One illness Barker said they have seen cases of in Kanawha County is Alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), also known as the red meat allergy.

“It can kind of present itself in ways like lactose intolerance because you won’t be able to consume any dairy products, as well, so it could be dairy or any kind of red meat,” Barker said.

Jennifer Blair said he daughter has the red meat allergy after a tick bite. Blair, who’s from Ashland, Kentucky, said her daughter’s symptoms could never go away. She added that it took a year for the now 5-year-old to be diagnosed properly.

“It started with a lot of indigestion and then it went into the full on-body rashes and just progressed from there,” Blair said. “She reacts to all byproducts down to shampoos, toilet paper, toothpaste, sugar — all of that. So pretty much anything mammal and anything dairy.”

Into the fall months, Barker said deer ticks are more common. Ticks can be found on pets, trees and grass.

To repel ticks, wear pants, keep grass short and wear a repellant with Deet.

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