Pediatric Lyme Disease

Summer is here and so is Lyme disease. If you have been watching the TV this past spring, you noticed that all predictions are for the highest increase in Lyme disease this year since records have been kept. So let me remind you how to avoid Lyme disease.

At present, the best way to avoid Lyme disease is to avoid deer ticks. Although generally only about one percent of all deer ticks are infected with Lyme Disease Bacteria, however, in some areas in upstate, on Long Island, and in Staten Island more than half of them harbor the germs.

* To help prevent contact with ticks, walk in the center of trails to avoid picking up ticks from overhanging grass and brush.
* To minimize skin exposure to ticks, wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts that fit tightly at the ankles and wrists. As a further safeguard, wear a hat, tuck pant legs into socks, and wear shoes that leave no part of your feet exposed.
* To make it easy to find ticks on cloths, wear light-colored clothing.
* To keep ticks away, spray clothing with the insecticide permethrin, commonly found in lawn and garden stores.
* To repel ticks, spray clothing or skin with insect repellents that contain a chemical called DEET (N, N-diethl-M-toluamide).
* If you are pregnant, you should be especially careful to avoid ticks in Lyme disease areas because infection can be transferred to your unborn child.

I would like to personally thank all the members of the Kiwanis family: Kiwanis Clubs, Circle K Clubs, Key Clubs, Builders Clubs, and K-Kids who have worked so hard to raise money for and having been so generous in donations to the Pediatric Lyme Disease Foundation, or by purchasing a Brittant Fellowship Award as an inexpensive way to honor someone special.

As always, if you know someone in need of financial help for the treatment and/or medication as a result of Lyme disease, please contact me directly or any other member of the Pediatric Lyme Disease Foundation Board. We are here to help through Kiwanis.

 

Column Posted on Web Site August 6, 2011