Photo by Scott McCloskey Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department Administrator Howard P. Gamble speaks about tick and Lyme disease awareness during a recent seminar at Oglebay Institute’s Schrader Environmental Education Center.

WHEELING — As area residents gear up to get out in their gardens, mow their lawns or go for a nature walk — tick and Lyme disease awareness is essential, according to several local medical professionals.

Participants attending an informative lecture at Oglebay Institute’s Schrader Environmental Education Center in Oglebay Park last week had a chance to increase their awareness about ticks and the bacterial infection they can transmit. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 300,000 people are diagnosed with Lyme disease every year in the United States and the disease continues to become more of a public threat in the northeastern region of the country.

Presented in partnership with the Ohio County Master Gardeners Public Lecture Series, the lecture centered around several topics associated with ticks and Lyme disease such as: prevention, risk, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment for both humans and pets. The speakers included Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department Administrator Howard P. Gamble, Dr. Thomas Wack Jr., and local veterinarian Dr. Karl E. Yurko.

The Lyme disease bacterium is spread through the bite of infected ticks, according to the CDC. The black-legged tick (or deer tick) spreads the disease in the northeastern, mid-Atlantic, and north-central United States, while the western black-legged tick spreads the disease on the Pacific Coast. Ticks can attach to any part of the human body but are often found in hard-to-see areas such as the groin, armpits, and scalp. In most cases, the tick must be attached for 24 to 48 hours or more before the Lyme disease bacterium can be transmitted.

A bacterial infection, Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in the U.S. It was first recognized clinically in 1977 as “Lyme arthritis,” during studies of a cluster of children in Lyme, Connecticut, who were thought to have juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, according to Gamble.

He said there has been a slight increase in reports of Lyme disease in this region and West Virginia in recent years, and it is becoming more of a public threat.

“Ever since this was identified … it’s blossomed into a problem coming out of the northeast corridor making its way down to Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. We’re not only seeing more cases, but we’re seeing more problems associated with it,” Gamble explained. He said taking the proper preventive measures is an obvious key to fighting against a disease that can cause a variety of symptoms, from mild to very serious.

Lyme disease can be completely treatable with antibiotics; however, if left untreated the infection can spread to the joints, the heart, the nervous system, and cause chronic illness and life-long problems. The disease is rarely fatal.

Some symptoms consistent with Lyme disease include: fever, fatigue, headache, articular inflammatory arthritis, erythemma migrans, carditis and peripheral neuropathy. Many times people are unaware that they have contracted the disease or that they have been bitten by a tick carrying the bacterium specific to the disease, according to Gamble.

“More people are picking it up. … So if your going to be out, make sure you’re wearing the right clothes,” Gamble commented. “This seems to spike just around the time we send kids out for summer break,” he added.

Gamble said it’s important to make tick checks after spending time in a grassy or wooded area — even after doing something as simple as mowing your lawn.

When it comes to tick prevention, Gamble said it is important to use insect repellents, check yourself regularly after coming in from outside, and to minimize exposed skin areas by wearing long sleeve shirts, long pants and closed shoes. In addition, he said wearing light colored clothing makes it much easier to spot crawling ticks.

The big thing is to check for ticks, and if someone believes they may have been bitten by a tick, they should contact their physician and get the proper medical testing, according to Gamble. Identifying the clinical physical features of Lyme disease on a person often begins with a very small skin lesion that appears as a red macule and expands into a larger “bull’s-eye” or Erythema migrans rashes often associated with the disease.

Wack said more and more people are aware of the disease and are reporting incidents of the disease.

“Most of the problems of Lyme disease can be treated very easy, if a person just recognizes what the situation is and takes the appropriate steps,” Wack explained. “If they have a tick, they get rid of it and a rash develops at the site of the original tick bite, then they should always check with their physician,” he added.

Yurko, who spoke primarily about tick control and the prevention of Lyme disease in pets during the two-hour seminar, said it is essential to check our pets very closely every time they come in from being outside. He said ticks can be extremely hard to find as many times they will be tucked away in hard-to-spot places on a pet, such as around and inside their ears and between their paw pads.

“If we control and prevent (ticks) with the pets that we have we’re going to be knocking out ticks and Lyme disease significantly in the environment which we live,” he explained.

Yurko recommended using a variety of insect and tick repellents on pets such as the popular “Frontline” brand. He said the most effective way to get rid of a tick that has already attached itself to you or your pet is to grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible with a pair of flat tweezers and pull straight out with steady even pressure. You can dispose of the tick by submersing it in a container of alcohol.