GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – With spring here and summer just around the corner, many will be spending more time outdoors, potentially in areas where ticks are active.
HSHS St. Vincent and St. Mary’s Hospitals, as well as Prevea Health, are offering tips and reminders to help everyone recognize and treat tick-related incidents.
Dr. Amy Romandine Kratz, a family medicine physician at the HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital Prevea Oconto Falls Health Center says this especially is important on this side of the state.
“Northeast Wisconsin is one of the most densely populated areas.” Dr. Romandine Kratz says it is second only to the west side of the state.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, there are two common types of ticks that spread disease and they are deer (black-legged) ticks and wood (dog) ticks.
However, Dr. Romandine Kratz says deer ticks are a known carrier of Lyme disease. Wisconsin had 3,105 estimated cases of Lyme disease in 2018.
It is also important to try to recognize the difference.
Wood ticks have whitish markings on the body, while deer ticks are reddish to dark brown in appearance without white markings. Deer ticks are also usually smaller.
Symptoms may include rash, flu-like symptoms (headache, fever, muscle aches and joint pain) and enlarged lymph nodes.
The most common illnesses, other than Lyme disease, are anaplasmosis and ehrlichiosis. Anaplasmosis and ehrlichiosis are also transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected deer tick. The illness usually occurs within 1 to 3 weeks after being exposed to an infected tick. Those symptoms may include fever, chills, muscle pain, severe headache, and fatigue.
“I think it is just knowing how to reduce your risk of getting a bite in the first place,” Dr. Romandine Kratz explained.
She says that starts with wearing the proper clothing when outside this summer.
“There is some evidence that wearing light-colored clothing is actually helpful.” Dr. Romandine Kratz says it is also important to cover up the skin so wearing pants and long sleeves, tucking in shirts, tucking pants into socks and wearing closed-toe shoes will help keep ticks from being able to find their way to skin.
Other ways to keep the ticks away are using insect repellents on skin that contain at least 20 percent DEET, using permethrin-treated clothing and gear, or treat your gear and clothing with permethrin before departure and staying out of tall grassy areas, wooded areas and brush as much as possible.
If a tick is located on someone, there is no need to panic.
“It takes up to 36 hours for a tick to be on for it to actually start transmitting the pathogen.
Removing the tick is the next step.
“You want to use tweezers to grasp the tick and try to do it close to the skin because you don’t want the head to break off.”
She says you want to pull back but do not twist or jerk. It is also important not to crush the tick’s body while it is still in the skin. This can cause the tick to inject body fluids and increase the risk for infection.
Dr. Romandine Kratz says there are common remedies for removing ticks such as smoldering with a match but it is not recommended as it may burn the skin and increase risk of infections.
Other things like using nail polish, petroleum jelly, liquid soap or kerosene is also not recommended.
Although these products may help to remove the tick, they can cause the tick to inject body fluids into the wound, which may increase the risk of Lyme disease.
