Community Corner

How to Tell the Flu Apart from Lyme Disease

According to the Lyme Research Alliance, July and early August are prime times for tick trouble. Feeling flu-ish can be a sign of Lyme disease.

Most people associate Lyme disease with a bull’s-eye rash. But according to the Lyme Research Alliance  (LRA) anyone with flu-like symptoms in the summer should suspect Lyme, particularly if they live or have visited an area where ticks are found.

You’ve been enjoying a wonderfully relaxing summer—sunning, grilling, spending time in the great outdoors. So why have you suddenly developed a fever, chills, muscle and joint aches, and feel totally drained? If you’re suffering from a flu-like illness, the LRA wants you to know this could mark the beginning of Lyme disease.

“Although many people associate Lyme with the hallmark bull’s-eye rash, less than 50 percent develop one,” said Debbie Siciliano, co-president of Lyme Research Alliance (LRA) in a release. “If you develop what seems like a summer-time flu, and you live in or have visited an area where deer ticks are found, it’s important that you see a doctor and get tested for Lyme and other tick-borne illnesses.”

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July and early August are prime times for tick trouble because the insect-like creatures are in their “nymph” stage, about the size of a poppy seed, and are hard to detect, according to the LRA. Their tiny size permits them to painlessly attach to your skin and feed on your blood—often unnoticed—for days. They also tend to attach themselves to parts of the body that you don’t readily see, like the armpits, groin, behind the knee, and scalp.

In an interview with Lyme Research Alliance, Kirby Stafford III, Ph.D., vice director/chief scientist of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, said nymph ticks are more active this year than they have been recently. “We don’t know why, but we’re seeing more nymphal activity in Connecticut than in the past few years,” said Stafford, also the state entomologist.

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If an infected tick transmits the Lyme spirochete into your bloodstream, you don’t feel anything. The cork-screw shaped bacterium burrows into and through your tissues, where it starts multiplying. In as soon as three days, according to the LRA, you can start to feel sick as the bacteria disseminate throughout your body.

According to LRA’s Siciliano, if someone feels feel sick, even several weeks after being in rural or suburban areas, it could be Lyme or another tick-borne infection.  “The flu-like symptoms could lead to serious and debilitating health problems, eventually affecting someone’s nervous system, heart or joints," said Siciliano in the release. "That’s why people must be alert and check for ticks.”

To protect againsst tick bites, LRA advises not to sit in the grass, lean against trees or fences. When hiking in the woods, gardening, camping, or mowing the lawn, LRA suggests wearing long, light-colored clothing and tuck pant legs into socks, and to spray exposed skin with DEET insect repellant of at least 20 percent concentration. Treat clothes with permethrin and spray shoes with it. After coming back indoors the LRA advises tossing garments into a dryer at high temperatures to kill any ticks that have attached to clothing (ticks hate dry heat) and to as soon as possible and check for any attached ticks.

To better educate the public about Lyme disease, LRA offers a “Lunch ‘N Learn” presentation session to employees of New York and Connecticut corporations, non-profit groups, and other organizations. The free 50-minute seminar, scheduled during the lunch hour, focuses on Lyme risks, prevention, tick removal and prevention tips. If you are interested in learning more about the LRA program, please contact Peter Wild, LRA’s executive director, 203-969-1333. 

Lyme Research Alliance, formerly Time for Lyme, is a Connecticut-based, national nonprofit that funds cutting-edge research into Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. For more information, visit LymeResearchAlliance.org.


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