|
Outdoor Corner - Outdoor Corner: Hunting, outdoor pursuits and Lyme disease
|
Picture of a deer tick.
|
Gene Plihal
for Smoky River Express
When I returned from the United States in April after building a fence on my farm in South Dakota next to heavily wooded area, I came back with an unwelcome passenger.
Upon my return to Canada after I completed my work, I stayed at a motel in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, and discovered upon awakening in the morning that I had a suspicious lump on my side when I woke up. I walked over to the mirror in the motel and raised my arm to investigate when I realized the lump wasn’t a lump at all but a tick affixed to my skin on my rib cage. I quickly dislodged the tick though he was fairly well imbedded in my skin and captured him in a small bottle in case of medical complications occurred down the road. I attributed the contact with the little critter to my work on my farm because I was in the shelterbelt and was in tall grasses and wooded areas. Since the motel, whose name I won’t mention, looked reasonably clean and modern, I didn’t think I picked it up there.
The little critter was a deer tick. Outdoors people need to be aware of this creature because it is a threat to health. I again recently found one near my garden in some clumps of decayed wood.
If you find the little critter attached to you, seek medical attention immediately. Some early signs of a deer tick bite include a red ring-like rash (erythema migrans) near the bite. Some days after the bite there may be flu like symptoms, headaches and so on.
Some of the precautions you can take include wearing clothing in the outdoors which is largely impermeable by ticks, tightly secured trousers. Permanone is also method of controlling the insect with chemical agent. The bottom line is that untreated, Lyme disease can cause permanent nerve and joint damage. So hunters, outdoors people, be on guard.
An area can be checked for the presence of the deer tick by a technique similar to what area Canola farmers use to locate the Lygus bug. Take a piece of white cloth or flannel and drag it through various areas where you walk or hunt frequently. The little critters will attach themselves to the cloth and then you can make a positive identification.
< Previous
Home
|
