Lyme Disease on the Rise, Ohio County Health Officials Warn
Trending
WHEELING -- As summer trudges along and people spend their days being active outside, perennial pests pose a problem that health officials are concerned may be overshadowed by COVID-19 concerns -- Lyme disease.
Lyme disease is steadily becoming more prevalent with each passing year, according to Wheeling-Ohio County Health Administrator Howard Gamble, who described the issue as one that has gone somewhat unnoticed, outside of anecdotes about "there's ticks everywhere this year."
Gamble described Lyme as a public health problem, partially due to the fact that the vaccine against the disease was discontinued in 2002.
"Now we have this problem -- we have this blossoming of Lyme coming down out of the northeast corridor, down into Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and into Ohio," Gamble said. "Then, you have this huge increase in the Great Lakes area, especially Wisconsin and Minnesota, coming down into this part of the United States."
Gamble said the Lyme problem was worsening due to the encroachment of deer, which carry ticks, into new areas faster than they can manage, in addition to an increased desire for people to spend more time outdoors.
Gamble advised that those who spend time outside be cautious, examine for ticks afterwards, and if necessary, see a physician for treatment. Treatment for Lyme involves antibiotics and can prevent further problems, while Gamble cautioned that failing to find a tick that is allowed to attach for long periods of time could cause long-term issues.
Ticks that bite but do not attach, Gamble said, do not cause Lyme disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that a tick typically needs to spend at least 36 hours feeding before Lyme can be transmitted.
"If a tick has bit you, you're going to feel it," Gamble said. "You'll see it, it'll be embedded, and it takes a while for the bacteria to be transferred from the tick to the human. It's not instant.
"If a tick is on you after walking in the woods, you don't have Lyme," he added. "Just get it off. But if it's embedded, it takes a while to transfer, and if that's when you find it and see it, you should follow up with your physician."
Removal of a tick, Gamble said, just requires tweezers, with the old wives tale method of using a hot match to remove the tick being unnecessary, as well as leaving painful burns. Just pull the tick off with tweezers, making sure to get the head and mouthparts out. If parts of the tick remain embedded, Gamble advised, see a physician to have them removed, rather than attempting to dig them out.
Gamble added that it was somewhat difficult to spread the message of Lyme, and other public health risks, due to the COVID-19 pandemic taking priority in the media, as well as with health department matters.
"Things such as Lyme and other animal diseases and environmental problems are always going to be a problem. You just don't hear a lot of it, as a result of one thing being very loud right now, and that's COVID," he said. "And rightfully so -- this is what we should be doing. But there are other public health problems, and if there is one out there right now that's timely, it's Lyme."