Chaffee County residents and visitors may be anxious to get out on the trails and into outdoor activities after a long winter, but Chaffee County Public Health (CCPH) has a message for us. Along with the Colorado Tick-Borne Disease Awareness Association, they warn us that there are other critters that want to get out there too. As we enter mild spring days, fleas and ticks come out as well and they carry communicable diseases. Avoiding tick bites is critical to avoid infection from Lyme Disease and plague.
Due to a moisture-filled winter, CCPH anticipates an active tick and flea season. The risk of contracting plague, tularemia, hantavirus and mosquito, tick, and flea-borne diseases is real, say the two public health organizations. They have teamed up to provide tips to avoid infections:
- Most human plague cases are likely the result of infected fleas that jump from a dead animal to a household pet to a human host. Flea and tick collars and medicine and keeping our furry friends on a leash are two ways to prevent this from happening.
- Wearing permethrin-treated clothing and repellents on your skin can help prevent bites from happening as well.
- Stay away from dead animals, as fleas look for their next host when their current host dies.
- Stay away from tall grass, busy areas and sitting on logs or leaning against trees.
- Conduct tick checks while spending time in the outdoors and when you return home on yourself, your children and your pets.
- Wear light-colored clothing to more easily spot questing ticks.
- When possible, shower soon after spending time in the outdoors.
In 2018, the Federal Health and Human Services (HHS) convened a Tick-Borne Disease Working Group that submitted their first report in December 2018. This report states that illnesses from mosquito, tick and flea bites have tripled in the United States: more than 640,000 cases have been reported during the 13 years from 2004 through 2016. Nine new germs spread by mosquitoes and ticks were discovered or introduced into the United States during this time. (For more information, check out www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/vector-borne/index.html.)
“The risk of tick-borne diseases is growing nationally according to the Center for Disease Control, 95 percent of all vector-borne disease cases reported in 2017 were transmitted by ticks, and tick-borne disease cases have doubled in just a 20 year period,” said CCPH Executive Director Andrea Carlstrom. “A single tick bite is capable of transmitting multiple infections resulting in symptoms that are often difficult to diagnose.”
“I cannot stress enough how important it is, no matter where someone lives, works, recreates or travels, to be aware of tick exposure risks and the potential symptoms of disease and to always practice prevention to avoid exposure to these very serious and sometimes debilitating or deadly diseases,” said president/co-founder of CTBDAA and local Chaffee County resident Monica White.
If you suspect that you have been bitten by a tick, it can be submitted to a private lab for testing. In addition, many tick-borne diseases present initially with mild to severe flu-like symptoms that may include fever, headache, sweats, chills, fatigue, muscle/joint pain, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and/or variable rashes. The “bull’s eye” rash associated with Lyme disease develops in less than 50 percent of cases. Because symptoms can be vague, diagnosis may be difficult. Symptoms of plague are very similar including abdominal pain and sometimes the development of tender, swollen lymph nodes. It is important to share recent outdoor activities and potential bits with your healthcare provider to determine appropriate testing.
CTBDAA and CCPH are offering community groups educational presentations this spring to create more tick and other vector-borne disease awareness. To schedule an informational event for your neighborhood or organization, contact Monica White at monica@coloradoticks.org .
Updated information regarding vector-borne and communicable diseases can be found on Chaffee County’s Official Governmental site at www.chaffeecounty.org/Public-Health-Communicable-Diseases.
CCPH has decided to continue its Health Alert posters on trails and with local outdoor businesses and community partners, which include a QR (Quick Response) code on signage so that those on the trail can access the website’s information via their smartphones instantaneously.
“If there are areas in the county that are in need of signage due to risk, CCPH would like to know about them. We also welcome ideas and suggestions on how CCPH can take the lead in ensuring that diseases caused by regular outdoor activities are prevented this season and every season. Our community’s health is always in CCPH’s interest,” says Carlstrom.
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