SparklyUnicorn Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 Now it's Powassan virus... Guess I'm never leaving the house. :cursing: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 (edited) Yeah, we live in an insanely beautiful corner of the world full of easily accessible trails and have pretty much given up hiking. It's not that we are being overly cautious as anyone who has had a tick related illness knows, but until the medical community starts taking it more seriously I don't know what else to do. Fun fact: I recently read that some years ago a Lyme vaccine for humans was being developed, until a certain group (cough) made a huge fuss and funding was pulled. So now our dogs are better protected than we are allowed to be. The upside is that the more they learn the better the vaccine will eventually be. Edited May 26, 2017 by MEmama 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 Yeah, we live in an insanely beautiful corner of the world full of easily accessible trails and have pretty much given up hiking. It's not that we are being overly cautious as anyone who has had a tick related illness knows, but until the medical community starts taking it more seriously I don't know what else to do. Fun fact: I recently read that some years ago a Lyme vaccine for humans was being developed, until a certain group (cough) made a huge fuss and funding was pulled. So now our dogs are better protected than we are allowed to be. The upside is that the more they learn the better the vaccine will eventually be. I've often wondered how it is that there's a vaccine for dogs and not humans. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted May 26, 2017 Author Share Posted May 26, 2017 Lyme is sucky enough. This other one is deadly. And I like the (NOT) recommended "precautions". Not easy at all to follow. Searching for some tiny arse insect on one's body...not easy. There was one story of a young girl who became paralyzed and they found the tick on her head. And she had thin little kid hair. I've got mounds of hair. How in hell would I find it? Ugh..... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted May 26, 2017 Author Share Posted May 26, 2017 I could swear someone here said there was a vaccine at some point for humans? Maybe I'm imagining it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 (edited) This was the year I was going to have hiking be a big part of my high schooler's PE credit. Nope. I live in one of the states with high incidences of Lyme and I'm not going to play around with it. We're going to do indoor roller skating this summer instead. My youngest son came home from playing at a friend's house. He talked about how they played hide and seek in tall grass. Sure enough, after he got home my DH was sitting on a chair in the livingroom and noticed a tick crawling up his own leg. We didn't find ticks on my son, but he brought at least that one home so it could crawl around our house and onto my dh. YUCK. Oh, and my youngest wants a dog, but dogs go outside. I'm not having a dog that will bring in ticks. GRRR. So we stick with indoor cats. The ticks are the only reason I'm not getting a dog for my son. Edited May 26, 2017 by Garga 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lavender's green Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 I'm seriously considering just hibernating all summer because of the awful tick season we're having here. Just pretend we're snowed in, and watch movies and do read-alouds all day. We'd probably go stir-crazy rather quickly, though. We live in a RMSF hotspot, which can be fatal if it's not treated quickly enough. I think it had a death rate of 30% before modern antibiotics. It is just so hard to go over so many little people plus DH and myself, searching for something the size of a pencil point. Between the five of us we still get about one bite a week which just leaves me so dispirited. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 I could swear someone here said there was a vaccine at some point for humans? Maybe I'm imagining it. There was. It was pulled off the market because too many people developed Lyme from the vaccine. There's more to it, but that's the gist of it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktgrok Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 map of powassan cases 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 Lyme is sucky enough. This other one is deadly. And I like the (NOT) recommended "precautions". Not easy at all to follow. Searching for some tiny arse insect on one's body...not easy. There was one story of a young girl who became paralyzed and they found the tick on her head. And she had thin little kid hair. I've got mounds of hair. How in hell would I find it? Ugh..... I just got back from the doctor and we talked about ticks...basically even though she went through all the precautions, she knew it's not enough and fully admitted it's just a terrible situation. She was super frustrated by the lack of movement in the medical community. On a positive note, she did say there are at least 4 things they routinely test for now every time someone comes in with a bite/tick. So that's a huge improvement from a couple of years ago when DS was diagnosed with Lyme but they didn't look for anything else. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 (edited) I'm seriously considering just hibernating all summer because of the awful tick season we're having here. Just pretend we're snowed in, and watch movies and do read-alouds all day. We'd probably go stir-crazy rather quickly, though. We live in a RMSF hotspot, which can be fatal if it's not treated quickly enough. I think it had a death rate of 30% before modern antibiotics. It is just so hard to go over so many little people plus DH and myself, searching for something the size of a pencil point. Between the five of us we still get about one bite a week which just leaves me so dispirited. Yep. I'm much more concerned about RMSF than the other tick borne diseases. It can kill quickly. And I've gotten more ticks off the dog in the past two months than in the previous five years. Edited May 26, 2017 by Pawz4me 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted May 26, 2017 Author Share Posted May 26, 2017 This is 2 years old. They are saying this will be a very bad year for ticks and they are highly concerned. map of powassan cases 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scbusf Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 Ugh. My DS had Lyme a few years ago. Thankfully we caught it quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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