Expert in Lyme Disease in Upstate New York: Prevention really works. Do it

Syracuse, NY – Bryon Backenson has been tackling ticks since 1992, scouring the woods and fields of New York and Connecticut to find, collect and test tick vectors.

"We are going to 150 sites in the spring and fall to collect ticks," said Backenson, assistant director of communicable disease control in New York. "In the years we have done this with staff and students, we have never had anyone who has a tick-borne disease."

Ticks, particularly blacklegged ticks or deer ticks, carry a variety of diseases. Lyme disease, the most widespread and best known, is caused by a bacterium present in the intestine of the tick.

Backenson said that he and his colleagues are living proof that prevention works. "We practice what we preach," he said.

He recommends that if you find yourself in an area susceptible to ticks, you do what researchers do:

– Wear light colored clothing so you can see the dark ticks climbing on you.

– Tuck the bottom of your pant legs into your socks so that ticks have more trouble reaching your skin.

– Check your entire body at least every 24 hours and eliminate all the ticks that you find on your skin.

– Consider using repellents containing DEET for the skin and permethrin for the clothes. (Researchers in the field have a disadvantage here: they can not wear insect repellents because they try to catch ticks and not scare them.)

"As long as people take proper precautions and eventually eliminate ticks, chances are you will not contract a tick-borne disease," said Backenson. "If you have the rash caused by Lyme disease, or flu-like symptoms that make you think of the disease, early doses of antibiotics can heal pretty quickly in the majority of cases that we observe. "

Backenson also stated that most tick bites probably did not cause illness because they were removed before ingesting the blood and injecting the bacteria. He said New York had about 8,000 new cases of Lyme disease each year, but he estimated that New Yorkers had between 40,000 and 50,000 tick bites each year.

"I firmly believe that there are a lot of tick bites that do not necessarily lead to disease," said Backenson.

The health website contains several videos on how to keep ticks at bay and remove them when they bite.

The peak season of Lyme disease, late spring and summer, is approaching. This is the time when tick nymphs feed and they represent the vast majority of cases of Lyme disease. Although nymphal ticks are less likely to carry the bacteria than adult ticks, nymphs being much smaller, people do not see them to eliminate them in time. Nymphs also tend to be more active in the summer when more people are walking in the woods and fields.

In most western states, about 25% of nymphs carry Lyme bacteria. This rises to about 50% in adults, who have fed more than nymphs and have been more likely to get the bacteria in the blood of deer, rodents and other animals.