Lyme Disease - US NE

[dmccarty]

Dan, what I do is cut the Russian Olive or any other brush or saplings, even trees that I want to kill, and then paint the top of the fresh cut stumps with undiluted Roundup (I use a generic brand from Tractor Supply). Kills it right down to the roots and prevents any suckers that would have grown back. One application takes care of it and doesn't harm any other surrounding vegitation.

Yep, that is what I have done and it is a PITA when there is 40-50 acres of land covered in this stuff. The bad thing is that I can go out and do this work but if the neighbors don't, it won't be that long before this stuff is back. We also have lots of Bamboo Stilt Grass which is also very invasive. I have seen acres and acres and acres of forest full of that Stilt grass.

If fire will kill the Russian Olive, that would be a good thing since it would only take one "application" to kill them. Just have to be careful and not set the woods on fire. :shocked:

Back to ticks, I think I am a tick magnet. Can hardly go out in the fields or woods without having ticks on me although not always attached to me. I am very fortunate to date not to have contracted Lyme Disease.

I don't think we are tick magnets but we sure have to be careful in the woods when it warms up. Even in the winter, we have found ticks on us. We have not caught Lyme. <Knock On Wood> But we do wear long pants, use spray and do tick checks.

Later,
Dan

 

[JamesHW]

We are vigilant about checking for them and picking them off. Took one embedded one off last spring, got tested for Lyme two weeks later and was clear. Always stick pants into socks and wear long sleeves when working outside.

On our property small clusters of young pines along with leaf litter seem to harbor the little bloodsuckers in large numbers. Thinking about constructing a hillbilly tick trap to see hoe effective it would be. Lots of designs use dry ice to generate tick attracting co2, but that requires regular replenishment. A co2 tank with a regulator would work, but is a bit pricey, so am leaning towards something involving yeast and sugar to attract ticks onto sticky tape and permethrin treated cloth.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

On our property small clusters of young pines along with leaf litter seem to harbor the little bloodsuckers in large numbers.

Yes, they love leaf litter.


A much better way to kill them is with DIY tick tubes, mentioned above. Cheap, easy, effective.

 

[IslandTractor]

My niece was diagnosed a few weeks ago with full blown late stage Lyme disease. It was originally misdiagnosed as mono many months ago, even though she had the tell-tale bulls eye rash and all the other symptoms. The poor girl is in agony with random joint pain and is undergoing major rounds of antibiotics. From my understanding, when it reaches this stage, it's chronic and untreatable. Sort of like shingles, you always harbor the virus and you'll have occasional flare-ups.

I was planning to read up on it some more tonight.

No, it is treatable. A few weeks of antibiotics is all it takes. Of course there is an awful lot of misdiagnosed (over diagnosed) Lyme disease too, especially in areas where the disease is not endemic. I don't know that Texas has a major problem with Lyme disease like we do in New England so there is some risk of that. So long as the diagnosis was made with positive serologies at a reference laboratory including a Western Blot, I would believe the diagnosis of Lyme. If the diagnosis is not supported by solid laboratory evidence then your niece should be reevaluated by a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at one of the Children's Hospitals in TX. There are many unqualified physicians making the diagnosis of "Chronic Lyme Disease" and only harm can come of that.

 

[IslandTractor]

I have a co-worker who is now on permanent disability from Lyme. It completely ruined his life. We believe he picked it up in southern Manitoba where these ticks are as thick as mosquitos. The crew would come in every night covered in them.

It took him probably three years to get a diagnoses and then only after going to the States to see a specialist. The Canadian doctors treat it like witchcraft. They literally laughed at him when he tried to get tested for it.

In his case, it caused reoccurring rashes, joint pain and then basically made him crazy. From the outside it appears like he has schizophrenia now. He wound up losing his job, ended his marriage, alienated from his kids.

It is now recognized to be all over Southern Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and throughout the prairies.

Canadian members please educate yourselves and your family.

Sadly, your friend was most likely diagnosed by a quack in the US. There are very rare cases of "chronic Lyme" but no where near as often as the diagnosis is made with poor evidence. If your friend is schizophrenic then perhaps that was his primary problem all along. The Infectious Diseases Society of America has published multiple careful reviews of the "chronic Lyme Disease" problem. Bottom line is that the vast majority of so called Chronic Lyme disease patients do not have the condition and have been misdiagnosed. Of course every individual case needs careful review but don't trust the "Lyme specialists" who are almost always general physicians who have found a good way to increase business. A board certified infectious diseases physician is who should be evaluating these cases. Perhaps your friend really does have "chronic Lyme" but I'd accept that diagnosis only if it was made at a major academic medical center.

 

[JamesHW]

Yes, they love leaf litter.


A much better way to kill them is with DIY tick tubes, mentioned above. Cheap, easy, effective.

The tick tubes are cool and bog easy to make if you wanted to DIY. But the tubes address the mouse/tick vector by providing treated cotton for the mice to use for nesting where the ticks would attach to the mouse and get taken back to the nest. All good, but what I want is a body count!

 

[hillwood]

My guinea fowl are not going to come soon enough! I pulled off a tick this weekend from one of my dogs.

Guineas are your best natural tick prevention! I plan on getting some along with some chickens, as soon as our season starts.
The guineas will flip over leaves to eat the larva of deer ticks.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

No, it is treatable. A few weeks of antibiotics is all it takes.

That's the official line. It's even true in many cases.

 

[IslandTractor]

That's the official line. It's even true in many cases.

It's what the scientific data supports. Claims to the contrary are based not on evidence so much as fear or hope or anecdote or worse, blatant lies to extract profit from the sick. This issue has been investigated pretty carefully and the data simply doesn't support the tendency to label patients as chronic Lyme or to put them on very long term antibiotics.

 

[teejk]

Guineas are your best natural tick prevention! I plan on getting some along with some chickens, as soon as our season starts.
The guineas will flip over leaves to eat the larva of deer ticks.

I wonder how they do that...the tick itself is no bigger than a pencil point (a tad bigger if it imbeds and starts drinking) so the larvae have to be microscopic. I did hear of a turkey hunter opening up the crop of a bird and found it was full of wood ticks.