ARTICLES

Guard Against Ticks and Babesiosis Outdoors

When you watch any of the medical dramas on television, they are always asking if the patient has traveled somewhere and caught a disease. Well, being bit locally by a tick can be just as bad.

Mention bugs that transfer disease and most people immediately think of mosquitoes. While mosquitoes definitely carry some nasty diseases, ticks can be just as dangerous. In many parts of the country, ticks are everywhere during the spring and summer months. If you get bit by one, you could become the ill host of a nasty little parasite called babesiosis.

Babesiosis is what is known as a vector born disease. This essentially means it is transferred from one living being to another through a transfer process, in this case blood. In this case, it is a disease often carried by ticks and can easily be transferred to you or a pet if you are bit by a tick.

Explaining the symptoms of a disease like babesiosis is not particularly easy. Most compare it to malaria. There is a general feeling of being tired, sore and even getting the shakes. It differentiates from malaria in the intensity of the symptoms, which is to say they are less intense.

Babesiosis is a subtle disease. It presents as a mild illness without extreme symptoms. Many people don’t even know they are infected until they finally go to a doctor and have blood tests. If you are otherwise healthy, the natural defenses of the body will eventually overwhelm and eliminate the disease and parasites. If you are not healthy, drug treatments are necessary. The typical approach is a two prong attach with atovaquone and azithromycin.

As the weather starts to warm up, you are going to be heading outside. Make sure to wear insect repellent to keep both mosquitoes and ticks at bay. Catching a little know disease from a tick bite is a lousy way to spend your summer.