Protect Yourself From Tick-Borne Diseases

A tick bite is getting more and more worrisome. In addition to Lyme disease, which is a growing problem in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, two more tick-borne diseases, ehrlichiosis and babesiosis, which can be more serious than Lyme disease, are showing up more frequently in the region, according to a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine.

All three diseases share flu-like symptoms:  fever, muscle ache, headache. But ehrlichiosis sufferers often quickly spike a high temperature and feel very sick, while those with babesiosis generally have a much lower, persistent  fever, vomiting and chills. Unlike Lyme disease, which is rarely fatal, ehrlichiosis and babesiosis, if  left untreated, are much more likely to cause death.

With the occurrences of all three of these serious diseases on the rise, how do you protect yourself? According to health officials, more than 90 percent of the people who contract theses diseases are bitten by ticks on the lawns of their own property. So taking precautions there can provide the greatest protection.

There is quite a bit that can be done to reduce the tick population around one’s house, according to Ken Clear, a licensed and certified arborist with Alpine, the Care of Trees and Walgren, the Care of Trees, tree preservation firms that provide tick-reduction programs throughout the region.

“Ticks like damp conditions and places to hide,” Mr Clear said. “One of the types of ticks that can carry these diseases needs to feed on deer and mice to become infected. So what you do is make your property less hospitable for ticks.” Arborist Clear recommends the following:

·     Get rid of leaf litter, brush and wood piles. These shelter ticks from the sun, which they don’t like.

·     Put a mulch strip between the woods and your lawn. Spread pine bark or wood chips two feet wide at the edge of your lawn bordering the woods. This creates a sunny, exposed barrier ticks don’t want to cross.

·     Cut high grass to deprive ticks of a favorite hiding place.

·     Put out one of the products containing insecticide that mice take back to their nests.

·     Get rid of plants that deer like to eat and  replace them with plants they don’t. An arborist or good plant nursery can advise you which is which.

·     If the cleanup job is extensive or your property is heavily populated with ticks, consider calling an arborist from experienced in tick-reduction programs for an evaluation and recommendations.

It can take a lot of work to reduce the tick population on your property, but said Mr Clear, “With these serious diseases on the rise, more and more people decide it is the smart thing to do.”