For many years all but the most southern regions of Maine seemed to be exempt from the spread of tick born Lyme disease spreading throughout the rest of lower New England and other areas of the country. The past several years have shown that to no longer no be true as ticks with Lyme disease are now found throughout the state. Within just the last few years the tick populations in Maine and many others states has risen dramatically and ticks are biting earlier in the spring and later into the fall as temperatures warm. Even more daunting is the recent increase in ticks carrying other diseases besides Lyme. Some of these diseases have symptoms similar to Lyme and can be treated in a similar manner but do not show up on a Lyme test, some present their own unique range of symptoms different from that of Lyme, and some unfortunately are untreatable. At this point these other tick born diseases exist in Maine in only very low numbers but it is only a matter of time before the incidences of people contracting these other tick born diseases increases here in Maine as they already have in other states. The factors behind these changes are possibly several and could include climate change, an increase in wildlife populations of certain species such as as mice and deer, and habitat destruction and fragmentation which limits the ability of natural predators to keep other animal species populations in check. More research is needed into the treatment of these tick born diseases and the causes behind their increasing numbers but for now your best defense is knowledge of how to prevent yourself from being bitten by ticks in the first place and knowledge of the best practices to follow if you are. We know that these are not problems that any of us likes to see but the more people that like this post the more visible it will be on Facebook and the more people will see this important information. hotstove.bangordailynews/2014/05/30/home/the-tick-borne-powassan-virus-you-dont-want-it/
Posted on: Sun, 01 Jun 2014 17:52:45 +0000
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