Sick Bay - The Doctor Is In!
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Sick Bay - The Doctor Is In! |
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From: Dr. Dave, Fleet Surgeon: What's the Problem? Tick Born Disease Part One Ticks first described as pests by the ancient Greeks have not changed much in 200 million years. There are over 850 species and they prey on every class of vertebrate. They transmit bacteria, rickettsiae, viruses, parasites, and toxins and are surpassed only by mosquitoes as vectors of disease. They are not insects, they are arachnids along with spiders, mites and scorpions in the class arthropod. Humans are incidental and dead end hosts meaning that the diseases are meant for other vertebrates such as rabbits and deer and we do not spread the disease further. The ticks on the east coast have hard bodies and on the West coast a soft bodies. They are attracted by heat, breath and urine. They do not puncture the skin but cut it, and secrete an anticoagulant and a cement that binds them to our skin. Only females feeds on blood, the male binds to the skin nearby and mates with the female after she bloats up with blood. The female then lays thousands of eggs. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DISEASE SPREAD BY TICKS PART TWO Bacterial =Tularemia, Lyme Disease, Q Fever, Relapsing Fever. Rickettsial = Rock Mtn Spotted Fever. Viral = Colorado Tick Fever, Encephalitis Toxin = Tick Paralysis. Tularemia is a bacterial disease that presents as an ulcer at the site of a tick bite with swollen surrounding lymph nodes. It can also occur from cleaning an infected animal, most often a rabbit. with hands that have a skin break. Treated with doxycycline. Lyme Disease is another bacteria. It was first discovered in 1976 In Lyme, New York in a group of children thought to have Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. Spirochete bacteria were isolated from the joint fluid of the children and from the guts of ticks found on them. The natural hosts were mice and deer. Annular(target looking) skin lesions appear followed by neurological problems and arthritis. Treatment is 2 weeks of oral Doxycycline or Amoxicillin. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is a Ricketsial disease. It first appears about a week after a tick bite as a rash on the wrists and ankles and spreads over the body including the palms and soles of the feet. It is a vasculitis and will lead to death. It is treated with oral Doxycycline. Colorado Tick Fever is a virus that appears about 4 days after a tick bite. It causes about 3 weeks of un-treatable misery with sudden onset of fever, chills, headache, weakness, myalgia (muscle pain), prostration, conjunctivitis, photophobia and orbital pain. It has a rash in 10% and these can be confused with RMSF. Tick Paralysis appears a an ascending paralysis about 4 days after a tick attaches to the skin and starts secreting it?s toxin. Treatment is to remove the tick which is usually hiding in the hair line. The symptoms are similar to Gullain-Barre Syndrome which is also an ascending paralysis. Botulism is also similar but usually is a descending paralysis. To prevent diseases carried by ticks is careful prevention. Avoid brushy areas where they reside and use DEET on your neck, wrists and ankles. Inspect yourself often and inspect your partner. Remove ticks with a forceps to the head. If there has been a tick exposure in the last 3 weeks and there is a developing rash or neurological symptoms then a tick born disease should be suspected. A physician should be consulted! Most of these diseases are deadly if left untreated. But if a physician is not available, it is surprising how many tick born diseases respond well to oral Doxyclycline used early. David Brinker MD AP SAFE BOATING DONE  WE ALL HAVE FUN |
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