Babesiosis

[onehand]

my oldest daughter who livers in Atco and does some 4 wheeling in the pines with her husband has been very sick for a while now

she as been very sick for almost two years now and could not work for about the last year

they just diagnoised her, "Babesiosis" at tick born parisitic disease. the doctors, if you could call them that were clueless with the help from the HMO for over a year untill the cheep HMO finally gave the ok for the $ test

now she is under the proper treatment

i had heard of another women getting it while hiking around hampton furnance either last year or the year brfore

 

[ecampbell]

Hey Stu, I have that disease. It's similar to malaria, treatable but not curable. I am not allowed to donate blood because of it.

Is it cold up there in nowheresville, PA?

When you get back this way let me know, we'll do some hiking and paddeling, and the PIC.

Ed

 

[onehand]

Hey Stu, I have that disease. It's similar to malaria, treatable but not curable. I am not allowed to donate blood because of it.

Is it cold up there in nowheresville, PA?

When you get back this way let me know, we'll do some hiking and paddeling, and the PIC.

Ed

7 below last night, it is 1 above now with howeling winds and the same for tonight and tommorrow

see you in the spring when we dig out of the snow !

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Another reminder to spray yourself with repellent every couple of hours while you're out there, and take care in doing tick checks when you get home. Ticks scare the crap out of me. Tick species and their tick-borne diseases are creeping their way up the coast from the southeast. I've been doing some epidemiological type work lately, and it's scaring me! it's not just about Lyme disease anymore. There is a very large population of lone star ticks (amblyomma americanum) in the pines, and they can carry at least babesia and ehrlichia. Often, one tick contains more than one disease.
Spray yourself, and make sure your dogs and cats are treated for ticks as well with Frontline or something like that.
A friend's dog came down with ehrlichiosis this year, (they live in Galloway), and there's a new form of bartonella (also a tick borne disease) that is almost 100% fatal in cats.

 

[Teegate]

Ticks are certainly a concern and in the summer you should come home and immediately remove you clothes, get them in the washer, check yourself, and shower. Failure to do this in my opinion is using poor judgement.

Glad to here Stu that your daughter is finally getting the proper treatment.


Guy

 

[LongIslandPiney]

Thats why I love this bitter cold weather. No ticks.
Once it gets above freezing I make sure to only go on trails wide enough so I dont brush up against stuff.

 

[woodjin]

Best wishes for your daughter and her recovery, Stu.

Jeff

 

[Boyd]

Another reminder to spray yourself with repellent every couple of hours while you're out there

See my comments about permethrin in the following thread starting with post #6. It really works and you don't need to spray yourself every couple hours. I don't think DEET (the ingredient in Off, Cutter and other typical sprays) is effective at all against ticks: http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/showthread.php?t=2749

 

[Hewey]

I treat my clothes with coulstons duranon tick repellent, spray on and your good for two weeks, 0.50% permethrin, works real good, I also treat properties in ocean and monmouth counties for ticks, I use permethrin @ 8 oz./100 ga. of water for a final solution, applied 3 times a year, spring/summer/fall, works awesome, no call backs in four years, customers dogs even stay clean. permethrin is the only product I would use for tick repellent.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

I do that sort of research for a living, and DEET is actually a pretty good repellent, as is picaridin, (the active in Cutter Advanced) but your mileage may vary. Pyrethroids (permethrin, pyrethrin, etc etc) do work well too. I find that I have to reapply any of those every few hours at least.
I think it has everything to do with skin chemistry. I wish we knew a whole lot more about repellency. It's shocking how little we know, really. Why is one person more attractive than others?
Anyway. I hope everyone has a safe and tick-free piney season coming up, and Stu, add me to the list of people who wish your daughter a quick recovery.
Sorry she has to go through this.

 

[james ungehajer]

Also,a healthy,and very speedy recovery from me to your daughter.

 

[Krloucks]

All I used to remember going up hearing is "Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever". Where did these new diseases come from? Or do we just now have the ability to isolate and diagnose. Two years ago my wife and I went to the Dominican Republic, stayed at an all inclusive resort that sprayed nightly for mosquitoes. The only mosquito in the place found my wife. Very soon after she became sick. After visiting many doctors of varying types we still don't have a definitive diagnosis. Malaria has been ruled out and we are now going with Fibromyalgia which on her worst days is crippling. In my younger days, I'd pull off dozens of ticks, before they dug in of course, and if one did bite I'd just throw Hydogen Peroxide on it and a band aide. Now it's gettin scary.
My Wife, by the way, does not hike the PB anymore since a "tick" incident more than 15 years ago, though she did not get bit, that was enough for her!
Thanks everyone for posting their favorite repellants, I'll be trying some of the differents that have been posted.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

The diseases are not new, but they used to be exotic. They infiltrated the country and are spreading around with their hosts, several different kinds of ticks. Well, Lyme disease is a "new" disease, but babesiosis, bartonella, ehrlichiosis, etc, have been around for a while. They were just isolated to the warmer climates south of the border and to other continents.
That's partially why they ask you if you've visited a farm when you fill out that customs form on a plane. The spread of these diseases is thought to mostly be because of the greatly increased mobility of the human population throughout the world, and often, they bring their pets.

sorry about your wife, Krloucks, that's scary. Has she been tested for mycoplasma?

 

[LongIslandPiney]

Global warming could also be a factor in the spread of these tropical diseases. And although I hate to bring it up, folks who enter this country illegally aren't checked and also spread disease.
TB and Whooping Cough are coming back because of this.

 

[Boyd]

Speaking of diseases, whatever became of the bird flu that was talked about so much last year? Haven't heard any reports on this in awhile.

Sue, I don't doubt that insects behave differently around different people. But my property is a great "laboratory" for tick testing. If you read the other thread I linked to you'll see my experiences. Numerous times I sprayed heavily with DEET and then watched ticks crawl right up my pants which were still moist from the spray. OTOH, when they started walking across clothes treated with permethryn they just dropped off. DEET just doesn't work for me with ticks, and I have read articles which say the same thing.

Your mileage may vary...

 

[Sue Gremlin]

That's scary! The ticks must really not be offended by it.
The thing with DEET is that it doesn't kill them, it just bothers them. Permethrin does kill them. Interesting about your yard. I may have to collect some piney ticks for my lab.

Bird flu is still very much a threat, it's still capable of becoming a pandemic, but I guess there are other news stories that are more important like Anna Nicole Smith.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

And Boyd, have you tried picaridin yet? (Cutter Advanced).

 

[Boyd]

No, I haven't, I just assumed all the OFF and Cutter products were DEET based. Will have to give it a try this spring. Heh, I have 10 acres of woods with varied terrain adjoining a WMA so it's not really a "yard"

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Gah. Lucky boy. If only we could live down there, but it's sort of a tough commute to northern Princeton. *sigh*

 

[james ungehajer]

Does anyone use avon skin so soft regular,or outdoors plus,it is a non deet product,it works great for gnats(kills on contact)and keeps the greenheads away when i am on my boat in great bay.This is just the regular version.It says on the label(outdoors plus)it works on ticks.I have yet to try it in the woods.