Illnesses from Ticks and other Bugs

[Trendy411]

Although this post may not fit into this particular discussion, I am discussing what may be very important as people start to enter the woods for what ever reasons this coming up season. The question is how many people have or know someone who has gotten an illness from ticks or any other bugs. Please let us know what kind of bug it was and what the illness from it was, and if possible what environment it was such as just back yard garden or deep woods. For those that actually have gone deep into the woods, if you picked up ticks/ bugs how many were you able to find on your body and whether or not you gotten ill. I will post this in other discussions to reach the greatest number of users. I understand that this may be getting into privacy issues but I think it would be very informative and educational for myself and others. Thanks.

[trotterlg]

Anyone who is worried about getting sick from a bug sure isn't going to go deep into the woods, imagine how worried they would be about getting eaten by a Bear!  There are things you can catch from a Tick or a Flea, but they fall far down the list of things to worry about in the woods.  Ticks mostly hang out on a plant branch and when you walk by about 20 of them will grab on to you or your cloths, I have seen close to 50 tiny little Ticks on my arm before they got hold of me.  Ticks you will find when you get undressed, they like to get around your waist band, socks or in your hair under your hat.  Fleas you will never find.  I have never been sick from one I don't think, I had a Plague shot in the Army and haven't died from Limes (SP?) diesease and I am 60.  Just don't worry about it and have fun.  Lots of home remedies for getting ticks out, I like to hold a red hot nail on it's butt unitl it backs out.  Larry

[mike65]

Anyone who is worried about getting sick from a bug sure isn't going to go deep into the woods, imagine how worried they would be about getting eaten by a Bear!  There are things you can catch from a Tick or a Flea, but they fall far down the list of things to worry about in the woods. 

trotterlg:
Don't know what area of the country you live in; personally, in Ohio I don't worry about getting eaten by a bear    However, Lyme Disease is an increasing concern across the country. The deer ticks that carry it seem to be distributed more heavily in some areas than others. Contrary to what you may have heard, Lyme can do major damage to a person's system. There are some good posts on Trendy's thread over in the Deer Hunting forums if your interested.

happy hunting!
Mike

[Gary G]

I have a goat with Lyme right now. The first thing you see is lameness in one leg. Next day it will be a different leg or all legs and they are lethargic. A man who had Lyme said it is the same for people. If something isn't done pretty quickly, it affects the organs. It is easily cured with antibiotics if caught early on.

[Siskiyou]

I am aware of two forester's who have Lyme's disease.  One is  back to work and I doubt if the second one will ever return to work.  The one that is not back to work cannot met the physical fitness standard for his job, and is also suffering vision problem.

http://arthritis.webmd.com/tc/lyme-disease-symptoms

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pack_test

[trotterlg]

We would be a sorry species if we were paranoid enough to not go into the woods because we could be bit by a bug.  Get real guys, there are things that make you sick, you are probably more likely to die from eating bad potato salad at a church pick nick than dieing from a tick bite.  Keep it up guys, you will have the kids sitting in front of video games and avoiding bushes in the front yard just to keep from dying of some strange disease from a bug hiding in the roses.  Times are amazing I think, we are becoming a country of whims afraid of things that have been around for a thousand years.  Good luck, hope you all make it through the night, watch out for those West Nile Virus Misquotes!  I've it made 60 years and never give it a though about a bug when I wanted to go hunting, I worry a lot more about waking up at the right time than being bit by some bug in the bushes.  What some peope worry about is an amazement to me some times.  Hope there are some good old redneck kids around to protect me in my old age, else I will have to do it my self!  Larry

[Gary G]

We would be a sorry species if we were paranoid enough to not go into the woods because we could be bit by a bug.  Get real guys, there are things that make you sick, you are probably more likely to die from eating bad potato salad at a church pick nick than dieing from a tick bite.  Keep it up guys, you will have the kids sitting in front of video games and avoiding bushes in the front yard just to keep from dying of some strange disease from a bug hiding in the roses.  Times are amazing I think, we are becoming a country of whims afraid of things that have been around for a thousand years.  Good luck, hope you all make it through the night, watch out for those West Nile Virus Misquotes!  I've it made 60 years and never give it a though about a bug when I wanted to go hunting, I worry a lot more about waking up at the right time than being bit by some bug in the bushes.  What some peope worry about is an amazement to me some times.  Hope there are some good old redneck kids around to protect me in my old age, else I will have to do it my self!  Larry

I don't think anyone said they were worried. I think only you said they were worried. It never hurts to know the symptoms just in case. I got maybe 30 ticks off me this year and no problems. My goat got one and has it. One of these days I am going to buy some tick spray, but I don't seem to be worried enough. Besides, old farts don't get it. We ain't neither one had it, have we?

[hillbill]

i think ive posted this story elswhere on here but here goes, a buddy of mine came over with a freind of his to do some gun tradeing and as we got to talking he was telling about his bout with rocky mtn tick fever. to say the least it scared the bejeezus out of me. he was a healthy feller who worked outside as i do, but as my freind said he was a lot bigger and healthier 6 mon ago. his description of the symptoms and the suffering was absolutely horrifying. he said he couldnt imagine anyone who wasnt as in as good of shape as him, like a older person or a child even surviveing it.ive never been scared of ticks, i just ripped them off and went on. however now i spray down with a good repellent whenever i go out in the woods. if yur out amongst them, it mite do to spend a little time researching it. oh by the way im talking about here in sw missouri.it made lyme disease sound like a bad cold.

[james]

I got the tick fever a few years ago right at the end of turkey season.  I never paid much attention to ticks before that.  It wasn't lyme disease but it was something like "erlich....inosis".   Never did learn how to spell it but I learned to use insect repellant.  I ran a high fever before going to the Dr. and I was tired and had no energy for about six months afterwards.  It made me more cautious of ticks.  I got bit by a brown recluse a couple of months ago but the spider died and the bite only swelled and itched for about a week. 

[Ranger J]

If you live and work in the Missouri Ozarks like I do there is really no way to completely avoid the ticks.  They are everywhere here.  You can not walk to your car without the possibility of contacting them.  I just wish there was something like the Frontline that I put on my dogs for humans.   I spray with off each morning and spray my next day's clothing with the strong stuff and still I do a thorough tick check each evening.  Like as not I still may find one.  When I lived in Illinois and got bit by a tick it was no big thing as when I removed the tick the next day there was no reaction.  Here in Missouri a tick bite will get red and itch like a chigger bite on steroids.  Ticks and chiggers are closely related you know.  I really feel sorry for the small animals without tick protection here in the Ozark woods.  I had a pest rabbit in my garden one year and at last I got fed up ad shot it with a pellet gun and it had so many ticks on it that I felt it probably needed a blood transfusion.   When I was a kid it was the custom to not shoot rabbits until after the first freeze as the feeling was that this would kill all the ones that had 'rabbit fever'.  Probably an rural myth.  There are things you can do to protect yourself in the woods, spray, watch where you walk and set, etc.  but the bottom line is if your going to be in the woods, at least in the Ozarks you are going to have an occasional tick.  I have been deer hunting in December and looked down on my pant leg and found one.  Death and taxes seem not to be the only inevitable things.

RJ

RJ 

[shootrj2003]

  I don't get paranoid about it-BUT-on the extreme side,and if you go hunting anywhere south of even possibly Florida-I was bit by a mosquito in Panama in 1972-73 as a young grunt'in top condition and came close to dying in quick time,,in the sick bay on board the U.S.S Ponce,I was there 2 weeks,most of the time I had a temp. between 106--103.they almost sent me to the hospital in Roosevelt Roads 'P.r.because of the uncontrollable temp.but finally got it down with an alcohol -water and ice bath!the first week real sick-the second recovering,fairly fast recovery but today as a56 year old truck driver,still in fair condition?I don't know!On the more normal side I check myself for ticks,and have found many,several of them deer ticks,been treated for Lyme twice,when two were found embedded and carrieing Lyme,but probably due to quick treatment never had any symptoms.Several friends, some hunters and some who don't go in the woods,have gotten it,with ,results ranging from mild  to severe.there are little things out there with big bites , just pay attention -and enjoy-but pay attention-Shootr

[snapcrackpop]

Preditor Masters has a physician alert card you can print and carry in your wallet.
http://www.predatormastersforums.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=52984660&an=0&page=0#52984660

Here is a list of diseases your MD should consider:
Rabies, Hantavirus, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Lyme Disease, Q Fever, Plague, Tularemia, Leptospirosis, Brucellosis, Typhus, Arbovirus, Encephalitis, Spirochaetal, Relapsing Fever, Psitticosis, Anthrax, Coccidioidomycosis, Giardiasis, Ascariasis and Hydatid Diseases.

[jenkst]

Trendy411; I live and hunt in or very near the woods. I've discovered that the places you don't want go near in the summer time are where there are cattle or lots of deer. It almost makes me sick thinking about turkey hunting around cattle during the first or second week of may. But yet you can be back in the woods maybe three or four hundred yards and get maybe none. Here in S.E. Missouri you can walk the ridges all day and not find a tick on you. I can just about tell how many deer there are just by the amount of ticks you pickup. I try to always spray my clothes or self with tick repelant. Never been sick because of a tick bite and don't want to. I've even noticed more ticks in the yard after getting a dog. Hope this identifys some areas you don't to go near.    Jenks

[MrJames680]

I have picked up Lyme once. I caught it early and got my antibiotics and am fine. Funny thing is that I am keen to it and I know to look. I have had many a tick in my time. The trick is to catch them in the first 12 hours (assuming they attach to you). Then they dont have time to spit back the bacteria into your bloodstream. Also, never burn or drown one in oil, gas, deisel, alcohol...  They will basically throw-up into you and you can get sick just by that. The best way is to pull them off by grasping them as close to the head as possible and use steady pulling until they come off. If the head is still stuck in you, just wait a few days, It will fester and you can usually pop/squeeze it out. If not it will dissolve away from immune system. If it continues to say infected or you notice a red ring around the site, GO SEE A DOCTOR. When caught early Lyme is real easy to cure. It is when you go for a month or two that the bad symptoms start and you will need to be on medicine for a while.

[quickdtoo]

The best trick is just don't get ticks on you in the first place, treat your clothing so they die before they can bite ya. 

Tim

http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,123353.msg1098427611.html#msg1098427611

Krokus is correct - DEET smells and the deer can smell you when they are down wind (which they always are - somewhere). DEET will also mar plastic eye glass lenses, plastic watch faces, binocular eye cups, arrow nocks, and just about any petroleum based (plastic) product. DEET drives insects away but does not kill them. For true killing power try Permethrin.

Four (4) ounce Commercial spray cans (Permanone) contain 0.50% Permethrin and cost about $7.95 each.  Ortho "Basic Solutions" Lawn & Garden Insect Killer @ Home Depot costs $8.95 for 32 fluid ounces (1 quart). Its active ingredient is Permethrin...2.5%. So I cut it with water to make 0.50% solutions.

Mix one part 2.5% Permethrin (Ortho) to four parts water to make the final solution 0.50% Permethrin (white liquid). The whole 32 oz bottle of Ortho makes 2.5 gallons of "Bug Juice". Put the 0.50% solution in a $1.00 spritzer bottle and LIBERALLY coat your hunting clothing, face mask, gloves, socks, hat, shoes, etc. The initial faint petrochemical smell will quickly disappear as the liquid dries.

Permethrin has been extensively tested in agriculture. Its preeminent quality is it KILLS probing insects (DEET only drives them away). Let me say that again: Permethrin KILLS mosquitos, chiggers, no-see-ums, yellow flies, horse flies, ticks, gnats, wasps, house flies, and just about anything that bites, stings, probes, or tries to penetrate your protection.

Permethrin sends their nervous system into LSD-like hyperactivity and they literally burn out their nervous systems. Ants seen feasting on Permethrin killed mosquitos have died not long thereafter too.

Permethrin is effective after multiple washings of your treated clothing as written up in "Smithsonian" Magazine (circa 1997). In accordance with Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) see links below, Permethrin is not toxic to people, although the MSDS and manufacturer's recommendations indicate use on clothing only - NOT SKIN. Contact with skin swiftly breaks down the active ingredients and neutralizes the repellent.
http://chppm-www.apgea.army.mil/ento...in%20Spray.pdf

My personal experience is no-see-ums and mosquitos are especially difficult to sit still through when you are under their relentless attack. Ticks are no fun either when showering at home and finding them in the least appropriate places. Killing the insects that would ordinarily drive us out of the woods is a good thing. If you are going to use "insect repellent" anyway, why not kill the suckers at the same time.

I have used my dog to wear a Permethrin laced tee-shirt around the house when mosquitos get thicker over the rainy summer months. One evening outside with the dog is all it takes for about two week's peace - until the next batch hatches - in about two weeks.

Here is some "easy reading" Web research on Permethrin (there are over 500,000 others):

http://www.travmed.com/trip_prep/insect_permethrin.htm
by: Mark S. Fradin, M.D. is Adjucnt Clinical Associate Professor of Dermatology, University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill and the author of Mosquitoes and Mosquito Repellents: A Clinician's Guide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permethrin Wikipedia defined Permethrin.

http://www.state.sd.us/doh/WESTNILE/permethrin.htmSouth Dakota Department of Health; Permethrin Fast Facts

Most links indicate Permethrin is quickly broken down into inert ingredients by contact with human skin; is quickly absorbed by soil constituents; is long lasting; is non-toxic to humans; does not smell; and kills insects by contact - but not necessarily instantly.

Others use Permethrin in higher concentrations too.  See QDMA.com General Discussion Forums [page 4 right now] under the post "Insect Repellent - Permethrin [Long but Info-packed]", which is essenitally this post with responses.