Deer and Lyme Disease

[bucktales]

Slightly OT, but I think it pertains to ML hunting as that is one of the methods I use in this state. We knew this info for a while now in this area. Nothing really new.

Town reps calls for deer kills in Fairfield County
Posted July 23, 2007
7:25 AM

(Stamford-AP) _ A coalition of several Fairfield County towns and cities says it's time to kill more deer to cut down on Lyme disease.

The Fairfield County Municipal Deer Management Alliance says tick repellents and protective clothing haven't done much to reduce the number of cases of the disease.

Figures from the state Department of Public Health show Connecticut has had the highest rate of Lyme disease in the country since 1992, with the highest number of cases reported in Fairfield County. In 2005, the county reported 426 new cases compared with 96 in Hartford County.

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection, passed on to humans from ticks, that affects the nervous system.

For the last three years, the alliance has been campaigning for towns and cities to develop deer management plans it says will reduce threats caused by deer, including automobile accidents, wildlife destruction and bird endangerment.

 

[bob1961]

what does the deer population have to do with lyme disease :hmm: if ticks carry the disease....the ticks don't feed off the deer and get the disease, drop off the deer and bite us humans and give it to us :yakyak: ....i've been bitten twice by deer ticks that do carry the lyme disease, and within 2 hours that is well within the 36+ hours ya need to contract the disease, they were so dang painfull and itchy where they had bitten me....to where i knew they weren't there before....i hear people who have lyme disease say they didn't even know they had been bitten by a deer tick....how they didn't know is a puzzle to me, as they hurt....i'v been bitten by lots of dog ticks that i didn't know i was till they were gorged with blood, but i never gotten lyme disease from dog ticks or heard from any source that ya can from dog ticks :v ...........bob

 

[bucktales]

From What I've been told, deer are more of a carrier and a breeding host for ticks. Since there is a large excess of deer in close proximity to humans, The infested deer are a perfect breeding ground. Ticks lay a bunch of eggs I guess.
The problem here, is access for hunting, more so with a ML.
I am far from an expert in how Lyme disease works but it something you have to be aware of around here every time you set out to the woods.

Exhibit A
How many deer you know would continue about it's business when a pair of setters are going bonkers 100 ft away? :hmm:

 

[bigbore442001]

Are landowners in that area becoming more receptive to hunters? If so, then they will help solve the problem. I seem to recall that obtaining permission in Connecticut can be a royal pain.

 

[bucktales]

Some of the bow hunters I know say that some land owners are starting to lighten up.
One note, I found out a co-worker almost died over the weekend due to liver failure from undecteded Lyme.

 

[rabjr]

I know working with Biologists for 28 years now on Prudence Island mouse populations are watched too. People only hear about deer and usually have no idea about mice being a big problem too.

 

[Halftail]

Some of the bow hunters I know say that some land owners are starting to lighten up.
One note, I found out a co-worker almost died over the weekend due to liver failure from undecteded Lyme.

Right now as we speak a friend of the family has a child in the local hospital after showing strange symptoms from a Tick bite.
I think they have ruled out Lyme but I'm not positive.She is still complaining about a bad headache.What are the symptoms?Are some syptoms differant?

 

[rabjr]

Beware there are other diseases Ticks can transmit beside Lyme.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/ld_humandisease_symptoms.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/list_tickborne.htm

 

[Halftail]

Thanks Swampy,
Good info in them links.I'm going to pass them along. :thumbsup:

 

[rabjr]

Also Halftail, getting a positive test for Lyme can be difficult. If the child was tested and it came back negative they should demand another test and if that comes back negative, test again. Everyone I know that has Lyme, had to have several tests for Lyme before getting a positive.

 

[roundball]

A week ago on July 17th I realized I'd occasionally been scratching the same spot for a second day in a row and after looking closely I discovered a teeny tiny tick...it had a tiny white spot on its back.

I carefully removed it entirely, still alive and crawling, bagged it in a small 2x3" ziploc parts bag & dated it July 16th for the day before I found it, to keep track of the date and in case something develops and anybody wanted to analyze the tick.

So far no reactions or symptoms but I've heard it can be months before symptons show up...

 

[rabjr]

You shouldn't mess around Roundball and go right to a Doctor and treatment center right away with that.

 

[PreglerD]

A week ago on July 17th I realized I'd occasionally been scratching the same spot for a second day in a row and after looking closely I discovered a teeny tiny tick...it had a tiny white spot on its back.

I carefully removed it entirely, still alive and crawling, bagged it in a small 2x3" ziploc parts bag & dated it July 16th for the day before I found it, to keep track of the date and in case something develops and anybody wanted to analyze the tick.

So far no reactions or symptoms but I've heard it can be months before symptons show up...

Have aclose look at it the next 4-6 weeks if it becomes red around the biting place. If red a Lyme infection could be possible.

Regards

Kirrmeister

 

[bucktales]

Tell tale red "bullseye" dosn't show up in about 30%.

 

[Walks Alone]

Roundball - To keep your "tick" viable longer for later testing you might want to add a damp cottonball to the ziplock baggie you are keeping it in.

Kind of interesting... What - Where - Who.

Lyme disease is caused by a spirochete (or type of bacteria), called Borrelia burgdorferi, which affects humans. This disease organism is vectored principally by a hard tick, Ixodes dammini, which commonly attacks white-tailed deer.

Lyme disease was first recognized and reported as a cluster of cases which occurred around Lyme, Connecticut in 1975. Since then, three areas in the United States are now identified where this disease organism is known to be endemic, or occurring naturally. These are areas of the Northeast (in coastal areas from northern Virginia to southern Maine,) the northern Midwest (Minnesota and Wisconsin) and the West (parts of California, Oregon, Utah and Nevada.) Most occur in the northeastern United States, but cases of Lyme Disease have been reported in at least 25 states.

Symptoms of Lyme disease can be severe, including acute headache to more serious nervous system impairment, symptoms resembling rheumatoid arthritis, expanding red rash on or near the tick bite, low grade fever, abdominal and joint pain, dizziness and stiff neck. Most of the cases occur during the summer, because this is the time people will be out hiking in areas infested by the tick vector, and might receive a bite from an infected tick. Persons living in or visiting the Lyme disease areas who develop these symptoms after receiving a tick bite should consult their physician, and explain that they received a tick bite and suspect Lyme disease. Effective treatments for the disease are available to physicians.

Ixodes dammini has a rather complex two-year life cycle. Eggs are deposited in the spring and the tiny larvae emerge several seeks later. These immature ticks feed once during the summer, usually for two days on the blood of small mammals such as field mice. Larvae molt the following spring into nymphs, which also feed once (for 3-4 days) during the summer, either on field mice or larger mammals such as dogs, deer or humans. It is the nymphal stage of Ixodes dammini which is most likely to attack and bite humans. These nymphs will then molt into adults in the fall. Adult ticks attach themselves to a host, usually the white-tailed deer, where they then mate. The adult male ticks then fall off the host and die, and the females obtain the blood meal necessary for successful egg production. In areas where Lyme disease is highly endemic, such as the northeastern United States, upwards of 80-90% of the Ixodes dammini ticks collected in the field have the causal organism (B. burgdorferi) in their bodies.

 

[bob1961]

come to think bout it i hardly find ticks on any of my deer i've taken in the last 5 years or so :v .................bob

 

[roundball]

The tick with the white spot on it's back is called the "Lone Star" tick...and per the CDC in Atlanta does not carry Lyme Disease. (It can carry Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever)

http://0-www.cdc.gov.mill1.sjlibrary.org/ncidod/dvbid/stari/stari_LoneStarConcern.html

“”¦The lone star tick does not transmit Lyme disease.
Patients bitten by lone star ticks will occasionally develop a circular rash similar to the rash of early Lyme disease. The cause of this rash has not been determined; however, studies have shown that is not caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease”¦”

 

[Mad Professor]

We had good weather for "hanging/aging" at the end of last years ML season (e.g. not much below freezing but not above ca. 35 oF). A week after I shot my buck there were still living ticks on the body.

I've been treated for lyme several times. My current doc just prescribes antibiotics and does not wait for +/- blood test. It is much easier to treat before it takes hold (a weeks worth of oral antibiotics), once it does take hold it may take months of treatment to cure.

Permethrin based insecticides work wonders for treating hunting/outdoors clothes :thumbsup:

Deer are a vector, so are mice. A way to control the ticks is to place cotton treated with permethrin where mice can find it. The cotton kills the ticks on the mice when they bring it in to nests. There are also deer feeders that work the same way, the deer get dusted when they hit the feeders.

Ticks are pretty rampant here but I never saw one when growing up

 

[rabjr]

I've been treated for lyme several times. My current doc just prescribes antibiotics and does not wait for +/- blood test. It is much easier to treat before it takes hold (a weeks worth of oral antibiotics), once it does take hold it may take months of treatment to cure.

Yep, same here although I've been lucky and haven't been bite in a long time now.

 

[RC]

friend of mine has gotten bit twice by ticks, (known anyway) his daughter in law a nurse said best test for lyme disease is called a "california test" guess they can tell the diff in different diseases pased by ticks.. (okay gotta say this..jus have too!) my friend sent the tick fer testing...results came back, the tick died of alcohol poisoning..true!...... (not really true..humor! :nono: ) :grin: but buddy was sick! for about 3 weeks the first bite..gees!do not screw around with them lil ticks! take them to the dr.s easier to test ticks than you! it can be very serious! !!!! :shocked2: