Date: Tue, 27 May 2003 11:20:04 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Denise Ryan Subject: Re: Tick-related MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" I used this permethrin stuff in Alaska last year on my boots, socks, jacket and hat. It also helped cut down on the mosquitoes and decreased the amount of DEET I had to apply to my skin - an added benefit. Since I was outside in the same boots, hat and jacket every day of my trip, the two week protection really paid off. Denise Ryan Washington, DC -----Original Message----- From: rob gibbs [mailto:robgibbs@STARPOWER.NET] Sent: Friday, May 23, 2003 6:55 PM To: MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Tick-related Elise, Thanks for sharing your experience and starting this thread. This is a topic that all birders should be up to date on. Over the past several years, as part of Montgomery County's deer management program, we have been trying to spread the word and to educate folks about how to protect themselves from ticks that carry the disease. So forgive my preaching but I can't help myself. Here are some things I hope will be helpful to fellow birders. One thing that most tick experts (yes there really are tick experts) recommend (besides always giving yourself a thorough looking over after being in tick areas) is a product called permethrin. There are a number of brand names. It is a repellent that you spray on your clothes and then must wait at least 2 hours before wearing them. Once dry it will last for at least 2 weeks and it is recommend that they not be retreated more often than every two weeks. It will even last through a couple of washings. This product actually kills ticks. I've had ticks fall of the pants dead after only 5 minutes or so. I treat a pair of pants and use them as my field clothes, keeping them in my car for a quick change anytime I go in the field. You can treat shirt and socks as well but nearly all deer ticks are going to get on you from less than a foot off the ground (they do not climb trees and fall on you) so I just go with the pants and am careful about sitting on the ground. Also, anytime you lean over to tie a shoe or pickup something off the ground, etc. check your hands thoroughly - ticks can latch onto you in less than 1/10 of a second. Products with DEET are better than nothing but for ticks, which are much harder to repel than mosquitoes and gnats, it will only last for an hour to 1.5 hours. Other tips for checking your self include using a flea comb (available at any pet store) or lice comb to run through your hair and purchasing a cheap full length mirror for the bathroom door. Check daily, most experts agree that a tick needs to be attached for about 48 hours to transmit the disease but they don't all agree on this. Most important of all - know the symptoms and don't depend on your doctor. Most still don't know a thing about it. My co-worker contracted Lyme disease last summer. He works in the field and with deer on a regular basis. His knee swelled up so bad with arthritus that it dislocated the knee joint twice and he needed to go to the emergency room to have it forced back into place. It took his doctor over two months to figure out it was Lyme disease and start him on antibiotics even with his patient insisting that it was Lyme from the start. The website that Elise mentions is a great place for more info. Be careful out there! Rob Gibbs Montgomery County Deer Management Program leader Damascus, MD Elise Kreiss wrote: >I have been somewhat blase about ticks, >and that is a mistake. By not checking myself >carefully enough, I let a deer tick get attached >for a period that could have met the 36 hour >timeframe after which people get concerned >about possible transmission of Lyme Disease. >What I didn't know before reading up on it >was that the bulls eye rash only >occurs in about 80 - 90% of the cases, the >early symptoms can be mild enough not to >be alarming; and the blood test is believed to >be about 30% false negatives! This is a good >site for information: http://www.aldf.com/Lyme.asp, >but not for the squeamish. > >Well, the tick and I did more than shake hands >because it left a deep rose mark one inch across, >and I was running a fever a few days later, so am >taking antibiotics. I plan to be more careful >checking; maybe even do the socks over the >pants leg thing, squirted with bug repellent. >Although at this point, wearing a light-colored >shower cap on my head when birding (to avoid >ticks in the hair) is also starting to seem like >a REALLY good idea. . . > >Elise Kreiss >Baltimore, MD > >======================================================================= >To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com >with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey >======================================================================= > ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================