Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Indiana spring weather can lead to thunderstorms and tornadoes.
The warm weather also leads to ticks. And ticks can carry disease.
"The one you hear the most about is Lyme disease," said Kosciusko County Health Department Administrator Bob Weaver. "It's not as common in this part of the country as other parts."
Lyme disease is a reportable illness, but Weaver said he has not yet had any confirmed cases of Lyme disease in Kosciusko County. Nor did he have any confirmed cases reported in 1998. The possibility exists for future cases though.
"The best way (to protect yourself) is with clothing. Heavy socks, long pants. Just don't leave an opening. After that, spray an insect repellent directly on your clothes," said Weaver.
Indiana Department of Health also recommends wearing light-colored and tightly woven clothing. The light color makes it easy to see ticks. Tightly woven clothes will help make it more difficult for ticks to grab on.
To control tick populations in the family backyard, the Public Health Entomology Laboratory, Department of Physiology and Health Science, Ball State University, suggests keeping lawns neat and closely trimmed.
Houses should be made mouse-proof.
If deer heavily populate the area near a home, the homeowner should consider contracting a professional exterminator to spray the yard for ticks.
IDH suggests that avoiding tick-infested areas during April, May and June also will help.
Besides Lyme disease, ticks also can pass on Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tularemia, babesiosis, ehrichiosis or several other diseases caused by viruses.
Ticks are small, insect-like animals that live in mixed shrub, grassland or woodland environments. They are different from insects because they have only two body parts instead of three and eight legs instead of six.
Vertebrate blood is the sole source of food for the tick during its life cycle, except the egg stage. Ticks transmit disease-producing organisms during feeding.
There are several different kinds of ticks; 15 different species exist in Indiana. Only four are common enough to be encountered by people and animals: the American dog tick, the lone star tick, the brown dog tick and the deer tick.
Other Indiana tick species include the winter tick, the woodchuck tick, the gulf coast tick and the eastern rabbit tick.
The deer tick is the only species in Indiana that can transmit Lyme disease. The American dog tick and the lone star tick can transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever. However, only a small number of both kinds can actually transmit diseases.
American dog ticks occur in all 92 counties of Indiana. Lone Star and brown dog ticks are found in southern Indiana, while the deer tick is found in 18 counties and is a recent arrival to Indiana.
Dr. William Remington, Warsaw, said the best way to remove a tick is to get as close to the skin as possible with tweezers and apply an even, upward-pulling force. Do not jerk or twist the tick because it could cause the head and mouth parts to tear from the tick's body and expose the wound to the tick's body fluids.
He said a person who is bitten by a tick does not have to go to the doctor every time. However, a person should note when and where they were bitten by a tick and watch for signs of tick-borne disease, such as high fever, rash and joint pain.
"Those tick-borne illnesses are pretty rare in Indiana," said Remington.
For more information, the Centers for Disease Control website is at http://cdc.gov. More information on ticks can be found at http://ai.org/DOH/Index.html.
