It is a good idea to be as close to nature as possible because it makes you feel better, however, being close to nature can sometimes put your health in a great danger.
1975–Small nice town of Lyme in Connecticut. Gorgeous land, healthy environment?optimal circumstances for living a long and healthy life. And yet, doctors found an unusually high number of sick children with a horrible diagnosis or juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Because it did not make any sense, doctors started thinking that maybe something else was going on, and in 1978 Dr. Steere realized that it was in fact a tick-born disease, cause unknown. Finally, in 1981 Willy Burgdorfer identified the mysterious enemy ? spiral-like bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi. But where does it come from? Ticks. Deer ticks.
The solution seems simple: avoid deer and you should be ok. But that is not the case. Reason: it is not only deer that carry ticks. It is also other animals including mice. Mice are everywhere. This might be one of the reasons why Lyme disease incidences are skyrocketing. So the less mice, the better? Sounds reasonable but even this turned out to be wrong.
Scientists believe that this year is going to give us much more new Lyme patients than before, and the reason is not because of an influx in mice. In fact, it is just the opposite. We will see a drop in the mouse population due to limited supply of acorns. Less acorns leads to less mice, which lessens the possibility for hungry nymph ticks to get bloody meals.So what will these hungry nymphs will do? Go for people to get food ? human blood, and in doing so, pass along this harmful Lyme disease. What it means for us is: be extremely careful this year.
Thoughts on Lyme disease prevention:
Avoid hiking.
Avoid contact with grass, trees and animals that are not your pets, including dogs.
If you are in a potentially dangerous place, cover all parts of your body: wear socks, pants, and long sleeve shirts.
Use repellents like DEET. Some people believe that garlic could be a repellent too.
Do tick checks of your body daily. Ask somebody to check the areas of your body you cannot inspect yourself.
It you find a tick on your body, carefully remove it and see a doctor ASAP.
50% of tick bites go unnoticed, if you have unexplained rash, fatigue, or joint pain, see a doctor immediately.
Follow this and Lyme disease will not come your way. Also, remember: “the best defense is no offense”. Good luck!