密歇根新闻广播 密歇根蜱虫繁盛期到来,谨防莱姆病

 

Time to break out the long pants: tick season is back!

The past couple of years we've had a tick boom along the west side of the state and it's happening again this year.

Rich Keith spends a lot of time with ticks. He's the director of the Kalamazoo Valley Bird Observatory¹. He and his wife Brenda have been doing tick surveys every year since 1997 for university researchers in Michigan and elsewhere.

"In 2003-2007, it was documented that a new expansion of the blacklegged tick came up from northern Indiana all the way to Sleeping Bear Dunes," says Keith.

Symptoms of Lyme disease

Foster says the primary symptoms of Lyme disease include a febrile illness.

"So this would be fever, headaches, malaise, swollen² lymph nodes. It might also include joint³ pain and swelling⁴ and muscle pain," he explains.

But he says the most obvious symptom associated with Lyme disease is the "erythema migrans" or "bullseye rash." This non-itchy, reddish rash expands out from the site of where the tick bites after a few days. According to the CDC, it occurs in 70-80% of people infected with Lyme disease.

Foster says if you have an onset⁵ of these types of symptoms in the summer months and you know you've been to an area where these ticks occur, go see a health care provider. Early treatment for Lyme disease is essential in making sure that you go through a full recovery.

How concerned should you be about tick bites?

Lyme disease is a bacterial⁶ infection and not every tick is infected.

"Really it is only the blacklegged tick in Michigan that transmits Lyme disease and there's only a certain percentage of these ticks that are even infected with the bacteria," said Foster.

He says studies in Michigan show about 15-25% of blacklegged ticks in the nymph stage and 40-45% of adult blacklegged ticks are infected.

The number one way to reduce one's risk of contracting the illness is to avoid tick bites. Foster recommends wearing EPA-approved insect repellents that contain DEET, picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus⁷.

When in the woods or other tick-prone areas, wear long pants and tuck those pants into your socks to reduce the risk of ticks crawling up your pant leg.

Foster also recommends hiking in the center of trails to avoid brushing up against plants on the edges where ticks like to hang out.

"Secondly⁸, doing a tick check on your family members and taking a shower soon after coming indoors will help to wash off ticks that may have not bitten you yet," he says.

He says if a tick is attached to your body for less than 24 hours, your chance of getting Lyme disease is very small.

But Foster warns that this time of year, you need to really look carefully when you're doing a tick check.

"The blacklegged tick stage that is out there – in the wild – that's coming up right now is called the nymphal-stage tick and it is very, very small, about the size of a poppy seed," says Foster. "So a lot of times people don't see these when they're climbing on their bodies and you don't feel them bite you."

He recommends checking all over your body for ticks, paying special attention to certain areas of your body where ticks commonly bite: behind the knee, the waistline, groin, armpits, behind the ears, around the neck and in the hairline.

Pets can be carriers of infected ticks

Kim Signs with MDCH says you can do a tick check on your dog or cat. Ticks especially like to hang out around the ears and in between the toes.

She recommends talking with your vet⁹ about ways to keep ticks off your pet in the first place.

Signs says that dogs are susceptible¹⁰ to Lyme disease but there's a vaccine¹¹ for them. She says it can be hard to tell if your dog has the illness, but it can cause fever and swollen joints¹². So, if you notice changes in your dog's behavior, she says it's a good idea to take it to the vet.

The state of Michigan's Emerging Disease site has updated its brochure, Ticks and Your Health, in an effort to inform residents about the dangers of tick bites.

You can also check out the CDC's tick site for more info.

1 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

2 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

3 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

4 swelling   

n.肿胀

参考例句：

• Use ice to reduce the swelling. 用冰敷消肿。
• There is a marked swelling of the lymph nodes. 淋巴结处有明显的肿块。

5 onset   

n.进攻，袭击，开始，突然开始

参考例句：

• The drug must be taken from the onset of the infection.这种药必须在感染的最初期就开始服用。
• Our troops withstood the onset of the enemy.我们的部队抵挡住了敌人的进攻。

6 bacterial   

a.细菌的

参考例句：

• Bacterial reproduction is accelerated in weightless space. 在失重的空间，细菌繁殖加快了。
• Brain lesions can be caused by bacterial infections. 大脑损伤可能由细菌感染引起。

7 eucalyptus   

n.桉树，桉属植物

参考例句：

• Eucalyptus oil is good for easing muscular aches and pains.桉树油可以很好地缓解肌肉的疼痛。
• The birds rustled in the eucalyptus trees.鸟在桉树弄出沙沙的响声。

8 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

9 vet   

n.兽医，退役军人；vt.检查

参考例句：

• I took my dog to the vet.我把狗带到兽医诊所看病。
• Someone should vet this report before it goes out.这篇报道发表之前应该有人对它进行详查。

10 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

11 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

12 joints   

接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语）

参考例句：

• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on gas mains. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在煤气的总管道上了。
• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on steam pipes. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在蒸气管道上了。