What Lyme Disease is and How to Prevent It

It's summer time, and the only thing anyone wants to do is go outside and enjoy the nice weather. While there's nothing better than being in the outdoors and breathing in the fresh air, there are dangers that lay below or above us that we can't always see.

These dangers are ticks and other nasty creepy crawling critters. Most of us can deal with the itchy feeling of a nasty mosquito bite, but it's the things that don't itch that can be the most harmful. The population of ticks has become very high this season already, and we haven't even really hit the summer months yet.

Some ticks can actually be harmless, but that's not the case for deer ticks. Deer ticks can cause awful disease called Lyme disease. Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria that only these certain ticks can carry. The bacteria are called "Borrelia burgdorferi." Most of the time, ticks aren't just born carrying this disease, they often times pick up the bacteria when they bite a rodent or even a deer. When they pick up the disease, it can unfortunately be transmitted to you, if you've been bitten by one of these ticks.

Some risks that could lead to getting bit by a tick are: walking in tall grass, having outdoor pets that also come inside, and lots of outdoor activities.

There are 3 different stages of Lyme disease: stage 1 is - primary Lyme disease, stage 2 - secondary Lyme disease and early disseminated Lyme disease, and stage 3 - tertiary Lyme disease and chronic persistent Lyme disease. These stages can cause different symptoms ranging from, chills, fever, and headache and muscle weakness. Later stages of Lyme disease can cause symptoms of body-wide itching, stiff neck, unusual or strange behavior.

If you are at risk for possibly coming in contact with a tick, it's important to check out your body thoroughly when coming inside. You are ultimately checking for a little black dot that isn't a freckle or a mole. If you do happen to find a tick on your body, it's important to carefully remove it by the head with a pair of tweezers and place into a Ziploc bag. You'll then want to bring the tick to a doctor to test it for Lyme disease.

If Lyme disease is contracted and found quickly, most times the disease can be treated with one dose of antibiotics. If the disease is not found quick enough, a full dosage of antibiotics may be required. However, if it is not found until the later stages, more serious outcomes could occur, such as: heart, nerve and joint problems.

The best way to prevent yourself from Lyme disease is to apply bug spray when being outside, put a tick repellant on your pet, wear high socks when going through tall grass and always check yourself over when coming inside from being in any of these tick living areas.