” . . . cases of tick-borne diseases [in the U.S.] increased more than twofold between 2004 and 2017. . . .Tick-borne diseases now make up more than three-quarters of all vector-borne disease reports.”
I live in a small town dotted with grassy and wooded areas, brush, and plenty of mammalian wildlife, so the possibility of contact with ticks is present even on a walk to the compost bin or train station.
I’ve become really good at tick identification and removal, but I can’t claim any special expertise in recognizing the early signs of tick-borne diseases.
CDC warns of tick-borne rickettsial disease increase.
For that information, we have help this month from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) staff, who steer readers to new resources in the Update from the CDC column in AJN’s July issue, “Increase in Reports of Tick-Borne Rickettsial Diseases in the United States.”
Alison Binder and Paige Armstrong tell us about the CDC’s new online training toolkit and learning module, both designed to raise awareness about tick-borne rickettsial diseases.
Lyme disease basics for nurses, and other resources.
These free continuing education resources cover the epidemiology, risk factors, signs and symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of various tick-borne infections. The learning module even includes a rash comparison tool.
(For information on Lyme disease, which is a tick-borne disease caused by Borrelia burgdorferi and not by rickettsiae, see “Lyme Disease: Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention” in the April 2018 issue of AJN.)
The article “Are you checking for Ticks? ” brings awareness about a common problem that can happen in any city around the globe, tick-borne diseases. This subject sparked my interest as a noticeable increased of cases has been found in the U.S between 2004 and 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As nurses, it is our duty to keep our patients informed of ways to indentify and prevent or treat diseases. Educating them on ways to prevent tick- borne disease and identify the signs and symptoms of the disease is crucial in order to prevent disease complications. The article list ways to prevent coming in contact with ticks and how to check for them. I found this information very useful for nurses. It is a good refresher on the subject and provides recognition of a common but sometimes forgotten issue.
We live in one of three top counties for Lyme in the US: Barnstable MA (Cape Cod), Dukes (Martha’s Vineyard), and Nantucket. It’s estimated that 1/3 of the year-round population on the Islands has been exposed to tick-borne illness; it’s endemic in landscapers. The main mammalian vectors here are mice and deer. My dad died of parkinsonism from a combination of three tick-borne illnesses. My husband was treated for Lyme 30 days after coming home from camp with a tick. A nephew (and son of a physician, no less) lost a year of school with a mystery illness before his mom remembered the one she had in the freezer after his campout and had it tested and he was treated properly. I’ve seen young people with bullseye rashes (and without) in the ICU getting pacemakers for heart block, crippling arthritis, neurodysfunction. We have been blessed with a lot of wild turkeys this year. Why blessed? Because ticks are the bacon-wrapped scallops of the turkey’s buffet, and we have seen no more than three all season on our pets. But you can bet we never, ever stop checking.