The Rensselaer County Health Department is urging residents to take precautions to prevent exposure to tick borne diseases including Lyme, Anaplasmosis, and Babesiosis.
The warning stems from a significant increase in the number of cases of Anaplasmosis found in Rensselaer County in 2015 particularly in the Hoosick Falls/Petersburgh region.
[private]Anaplasmosis is a bacterial infection, like Lyme disease, transmitted by the bite of an infected tick. Some ticks can pass both anaplasmosis and Lyme, as well as a less common disease called babesiosis. The first symptoms of anaplasmosis typically begin within 1 to 3 weeks after the bite by an infected tick. Infection leads to flu-like symptoms, including: fever, headache, muscle pain, weakness, chills, and nausea. Unlike lyme a rash is not common with anaplasmosis. The infection usually produces mild to moderately severe illness.The disease can be very severe in people with weak immune systems. Drug treatment for anaplasmosis is similar to that of Lyme disease.
To prevent exposure, residents are encouraged to take the following measures to protect themselves and loved ones from this and other tick-borne diseases:
Avoid Direct Contact with Ticks
• Avoid wooded and bushy areas with high grass
• Walk in the Center of Trails
Repel Ticks: Wear repellent with DEET on skin or clothing.
Find and Remove Ticks:
• Bath or shower within two hours of coming indoors to wash off and more easily find ticks
• Conduct a full- body tick check under arms, ears, the belly button, backs of knees, between legs, around the waist, and in and around all head and body hair.
• Examine gear and pets. Ticks can come in on clothing and pets and attach to a person later
• Tumble clothes in a dryer on high heat for an hour to kill remaining ticks
Contact your physician if you suspect you may have been infected with anaplasmosis. For more information please call the Rensselaer County Health Department at 270-2655. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also provides more detailed information at the following website http://www.cdc.gov/anaplasmosis/.[/private]