County officials see uptick in Lyme disease

EAST BRANDYWINE »Three years ago, a Glenmoore triathlete and mother of five began to experience joint pain, minor vision problems and severe fatigue. The symptoms lasted the course of the summer, but Carol Kolimago decided to wait until her children returned to school in September before visiting a doctor.

Three months after she began to experience symptoms, Kolimago tested positive for Lyme disease, an disease which plagues southeastern Pennsylvania. This summer marks one of the worst

seasons for the disease and for the deer ticks that carry it.

Characterized by a bull’seye rash and complex symptoms including fever, aches and fatigue, Lyme disease is often misdiagnosed and can cause chronic and lifechanging symptoms, according to a Pennsylvania Lyme Disease Task Force Report.

Chester County has been one of the leading counties in the state for reported cases of Lyme disease recently, and Pennsylvania is one of the 14 states in which 95 percent of Lyme disease cases are reported, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “I run the hotline for our group and I’m getting tons of calls,” said Christa Vanderbilt, a board member of the Lyme Disease Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Blacklegged ticks — also called deer ticks — carry Lyme disease and travel on mice and deer, as well as rabbits, foxes and other mammals. The ticks can be found in tall grasses and brush and transfer to a host when the host brushes against them, said Jeff Huckabee, the owner of a local Mosquito Joe franchise based in West Chester.

The tick season is traditionally April to September, Huckabee said, adding that last year’s warm winter kept the ticks unusually active through the colder months.

To prevent Lyme disease, insect-shield clothing is the single most effective tool, Vanderbilt said. For any individual who works outside, gardens or hikes, the LDASP recommends a set of long-sleeve clothing treated with an insect shield repellent. The clothing can usually be washed at least seventy times and remains effective, Vanderbilt said.

Rather than spending the same money on insectshield clothing for children who will quickly outgrow the apparel, parents can purchase a repellent containing permethrin at a local hardware store and spray a set of child’s clothing. However, the spray must be re-applied after each wash, Vanderbilt said.

After working outdoors, an individual should take a very hot shower to ensure

that any ticks release from the host, Huckabee said. Vanderbilt recommends showering with a washcloth, as hands can sometimes be ineffective at removing the insects.

If a tick is discovered on the body, never use alcohol, petroleum jelly or other substances to make the tick detach. “The minute you irritate the tick, they dump what’s in their body into your system,” Vanderbilt said.

Instead, “you want to grasp the tick as close to the head as possible and pull straight out,” said Chris Novak, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Use scotch tape to attach the tick to a notecard and put it in the freezer, Novak added. If the potentially affected person notices signs of Lyme disease, she recommends bringing the tick to a professional.

“If you see the Lyme bulls-eye, go to the doctor immediately. If it’s at that stage, the antibiotics can wipe it out,” Huckabee said.

Catherine Renzi, cofounder of Yellow Springs Farm, has had Lyme disease at least six times.

“Pretty much everyone I know in Chester County has had Lyme disease at least once,” she said,

She has noticed the bullseye rash only twice, and, unlike Kolimago, she never tested positive for the disease.

Instead, head and neck aches and extreme fatigue have become personal warning signs for an illness easily fixed by a 21day course of the antiobiotic doxycycline when caught early in its progression.

She has caught the disease in spite of taking the usual preventative measures, which include wearing long pants, boots and repellent, checking for ticks and showering at the end of the day.

Renzi’s farm uses organic methods, meaning she does not spray pesticides to kill ticks for fear of causing harm to other beneficial insects or allowing pesticides in water runoff.

While Renzi does not use spray, Huckabee’s company offers various spraying services for homeowners wishing to prevent and repel mosquitoes and ticks.

The company sprays a barrier of synthetic or natural repellent to kill and prevent the insects. The synthetic repellent kills the ticks or mosquitoes that touch it for a period of 21 days, while the natural spray kills when first applied and then acts as a repellent for the remaining period. The company recommends spraying every 21 days for the most effective prevention.

The synthetic repellent causes no environmental damage “unless you dump a lot of it in to the water supply,” Huckabee said. “By law, I can’t spray it within 25 feet of natural water,” he added.

Other methods of chemical yard treatment include home spraying with a permethrin spray purchased at the local hardware store, Vanderbilt said, adding that the homeowner should spray their yard a few times a year.

Vanderbilt also recommends tick tubes, in order to counteract ticks carried into the backyard by mice.

Tick tubes are rolls of cotton impregnated with permethrin. Mice pull the cotton from the tubes and use it for their nests, which kills the ticks on the mice. “Many mice can carry forty of fifty ticks,” Vanderbilt said.

In order to prevent transmission of Lyme disease, the CDC encourages creating “tick safe zones” for the backyard.

Patios, play areas and playground equipment should be kept from shrubs, bushes and other vegetation, CDC guidelines state. Residents should “regularly remove leaves, clear tall grasses and brush and place wood chips or gravel between lawns and wooded areas to keep ticks away from recreational areas.”

The CDC recommends homeowners mow the lawn frequently, stack wood neatly and in a dry area and use chemical control agent, amongst other solutions.

While the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources does not use any form of chemical spray to prevent ticks, it conducts public awareness campaigns, including last month’s “Lyme Disease Awareness Month,” Novak said.

While prevention and awareness can be helpful, sometimes Lyme disease is hard to catch.

Kolimago never saw the bulls-eye rash that serves as the primary indicator of Lyme disease. By the time she was diagnosed, the prescribed course of antibiotics took four months to return her to normal health.

About six months after that, the Lyme disease returned, and it took another two months of antibiotics before she was fully recovered.

Today, she wears a hat when she runs, never frequents wooded trails and constantly checks herself and her children for ticks.