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... You can reduce the chance of picking up ticks by staying on the lawn and out of tall grass and the woods.
Yep, I believe they get on you by grabbing you when you brush through some shrubs/plants/grass they are sitting on, they just grab hold of you as you're brushing through. Once they've hitched a ride on you, they crawl to find a prime and tasty place to attach and suck blood (while transferring microbes from other hosts they've visited to your bloodstream, kind of a cross-contamination). So if you're walking on a dirt/wood chips/gravel/asphalt path that's of decent width, even if you're surrounded by woods, the tick hazard is minimal. The only piece of you touching the environment is the sole of your shoe, which isn't a convenient or safe place for a tick to make their entrance while you're walking.
It was discovered in humans THAT IF YOU GOT THE VACCINE and already had Lyme, terrible things could happen to you, like becoming a quadriplegic(like a friend of mine). The vaccine in humans sets the lyme cyst into a wild out of control stage causing rapid increase in quantity of the lyme spirochete way beyond the normal 10,000 of them.
The vaccine is essentially the same one that my dog gets.
And yes I know all about Lyme. I have chronic Lyme now, and my daughter was the 2nd diagnosed case in PA, back in 1987. I live in the woods on the coast and deer and mice and birds are everywhere. Its carried as much by mice and birds as by deer. You can be infected in an little as 15 minutes after the start of the biting. I just increase my herbal treatments when I get bitten again(at least 2 x every summer), and don’t take doxycycline unless I develop a fever, which means I was infected with one of the many co-infections which ARE LIFE THREATENING.
We have no black flies at all, and mosquitos are about normal.
P.S.: I thought you were dead. I especially like your Lark Ascending, and the Antarctic Symphony.
I'm so sorry to hear about your condition...it must be horrible. Hopefully, the powers to be realize that the spread of Lyme is devastating and take it seriously.
Nope, not dead. Just resting. Gonna be dropping a new album and going on tour soon haha.
Yikes. My husband grew up in central Wisconsin and I absolutely hated visiting. We were picking ticks off the dogs all day, even with flea and tick treatement, and of course some would still be brought in the house and crawling on me in the middle of the night. Really freaked me out. A couple of his dogs had Lukes as well
I guess I can see it being manageable, if I kept a good perimeter of lawn cut around the house, and got chickens. I’ve also heard a yard can be treated with cintronella. We love exploring the woods though, so I’m bummed the tick season is so long. Here in Alaska, the bugs are absolutely horrendous, but at least it’s only mid-June through the end of August. A lot to think about.
Planning a trip out there this October. Can’t wait to see your beautiful state. :-)
Yikes. My husband grew up in central Wisconsin and I absolutely hated visiting. We were picking ticks off the dogs all day, even with flea and tick treatement, and of course some would still be brought in the house and crawling on me in the middle of the night. Really freaked me out. A couple of his dogs had Lukes as well
I guess I can see it being manageable, if I kept a good perimeter of lawn cut around the house, and got chickens. I’ve also heard a yard can be treated with cintronella. We love exploring the woods though, so I’m bummed the tick season is so long. Here in Alaska, the bugs are absolutely horrendous, but at least it’s only mid-June through the end of August. A lot to think about.
Planning a trip out there this October. Can’t wait to see your beautiful state. :-)
There’s risk if you go into the woods, but you can manage it. I take my clothes off immediately after getting home and thoroughly scrub my entire body in the shower. Permethrin works well on clothing, and you can use deet on your skin, which may or may not really make much of a difference.
And, being in Bethel is much better than being near the coast, at least as far as ticks are concerned.
...and now, just anounced is a new one. Hopefully it is successful.
Amen! From the info on the company's website, they have cleared the Phase I (gross safety issues only) trial, and have designed their Phase II trial. Valneva's VLA15
I don't know about vaccines, but in my understanding, clinical trials of drugs usually take about 5 years, and the Phase I trial is the shortest, so hopefully we will see something that works, that we can access within 5 years. I'd rather have it today, but am really looking forward to a positive result in the trial. I love being outdoors but this disease is a serious hazard.
Boy, oh boy… I hope the vaccine is a go! Too bad it's still several years out, but still, we can be hopeful!
As far as pets, they are fine and all, but I personally wouldn't be keen on having any pets that transport ticks from outdoors into the home. Approximately every 3rd or 4th person we know has, or has had Lyme Disease here in Maine, so the risks from pet transfer just seem too add too much risk of exposure. It seems like it's enough of a drag dealing with the constant threat of tick-borne disease as it is when we go outdoors or just work in the yard/garden, without the added burden of caring for and checking the poor dog or cat for the little beasts.
We have friends who have had their family dogs die recently from the disease. It's pretty heartbreaking.
Anyway, Maine still rocks, even with the added burden of living with daily tick checks, permethrin, deet, etc.!
Our cat brought in a tick this past February, when everything seemed to be covered in snow. My neighbor was on a job in the woods last summer where the ticks were so bad the tree killers wore dog flea and tick collars around their ankles and waists.
But it's not just Lyme, there are a host of diseases the little bastards can leave you with
Along those lines it's interesting to note that the Lone Star tick has made it to Maine. One of the effects of a bite from the Lone Star tick is you become allergic to red meat!
Very interesting podcast on the subject here:
Not everyone develops the alpha-gal allergy after a Lone Star attack. A couple of months ago, I got up one morning to find one attached to my face. So far, so good.
Just throwing this out.. any thoughts on towns similar to Bethel, in size and outdoor activities (hiking trails etc) that are farther north or northeast and have significantly less ticks?
Just throwing this out.. any thoughts on towns similar to Bethel, in size and outdoor activities (hiking trails etc) that are farther north or northeast and have significantly less ticks?
The risk in Bethel is lower (probably significantly lower) than if you lived on the coast. It’s certainly manageable. Your risk might be lower in the northern part of the state, but not significantly so; and there aren’t really any towns like Bethel in the northern third of Maine.
If you really want to go north and hiking is important, consider Millinocket, which is close to Baxter State Park and the National Monument. The town declined significantly when the mills in the area left, but that means that you can get a decent house for little money. There are great hikes in both the northern and southern part of Baxter. You’re also not too far from Gulf Hagas, third mountain, and other interesting hikes.
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