The weather is also good for ticks – News – Pontiac Daily Leader – Pontiac, IL

The tick can be a health problem

With the full downpour that Pontiac received Thursday, and with warmer temperatures on the Livingston County Road, residents should expect a resumption of soft conditions that have poisoned the region until now this summer and late spring. In addition to creating an almost unbearable climate for humans, it also creates very favorable conditions for mosquitoes and worries related to West Nile virus.
But another less discussed parasitic insect also likes hot and humid: ticks. And like mosquitoes, ticks are also worrying vectors of communicable diseases.
But while mosquitoes and West Nile were tracked, ticks, especially hard ticks, most commonly found on the ends of grass and shrubs, can not fly or jump; instead, they attack humans or unsuspecting animals through a process called "quest," in which they wait at the ends of the grass strands with the front legs extended so as to attach them quickly to a host.
According to the most recent data available on the Livingston County Public Health Department website, the county had a relatively low occurrence of Lyme disease, the most serious and debilitating bacterial disease associated with ticks; from 2004 to 2014, there were only 14 documented cases. LCHD Director of Nursing, Jackie Dever, said that in the past three years, the number of reported cases was only one.
But according to the Illinois Tick Inventory Collaboration Network, or I-TICK, the number of human cases of tick-borne diseases has more than increased tenfold since 1990; however, at present, Livingston County is not part of I-TICK. But the actual number of infections followed by the network could also be under-represented by a factor of 10.
An article published in June in the Wall Street Journal indicated that disease control and prevention centers were estimating the actual number of annual cases of Lyme disease at about 300,000; However, only about 30,000 cases are documented.
"We know that Lyme disease is underestimated," said CDC epidemiologist Kiersten Kugeler at the WSJ. "Ticks can transmit diseases such as Lyme disease, spotted fever and ehrlichiosis, while mosquitoes can transmit West Nile virus," said Nirav Shah, director of the public health department of the West Nile virus. 39; Illinois. May. "These diseases can cause mild to severe illness or even death in some cases.To protect yourself from both, use an insect repellent that contains DEET and follow a few simple precautions."
But this is not just Lyme disease and others that should worry people about ticks, reported the IDPH. In May, the IDPH reported a relatively new virus called "Bourbon virus," which the department said was associated with tick bites and reported limited cases in the Midwest and Southern United States.
"People diagnosed with Bourbon Disease have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, rashes, headaches, other body aches, nausea, and vomiting," advises the department. "They also had low blood counts for cells that fight infection and help prevent bleeding." Some people who have been infected died later. "