Lyme Isn’t the Only Disease Ticks Are Spreading This Summer

[Ethan A.]

Lyme Isn’t the Only Disease Ticks Are Spreading This Summer

Powassan aka POW, another virus to be aware of that ticks are spreading.

[Sam C]

Eh, that’s Nature, and life.

What has me more concerned is that as more and more people advocate to more and more people to get out into the wild, more and more people are going to go out unprotected; it won’t take that long before the virus adopts to a new vector–the mosquito.  Well, maybe… I’m not a virologist.

 

[Rex Sanders]

A few thoughts:

– Ticks carry so many awful human diseases you might never want to go outside again. Even this CDC article is incomplete:
https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/diseases/

– Many people treated for Lyme disease are also infected with other tick-borne diseases, some of which are unaffected by antibiotics, like POW. Untangling overlapping diseases can be a big challenge.

– Modeling tick populations and Lyme disease seems like an interesting academic exercise. But I don’t see how that would change recommendations to avoid or treat tick bites. Does it really matter if this year’s chances of Lyme disease are half of last year’s in your county?

– The wilderness is a dangerous place. Ticks, mosquitos, rattlesnakes, cougars, lightning, falls, hypothermia, hyperthermia, exploding stoves, suicidal cactus, … I’d rather take my chances in the wilderness than my commute to work, but I have a California-sized mortgage to pay.

— Rex

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