https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/triangle-sandhills/news/2019/10/30/hundreds-of-people-impacted-by-tick-borne-illnesses-# News video here
Hundreds of People Impacted by Tick-Borne Illnesses
NORTH CAROLINA — State health officials said hundreds of people in North Carolina are infected by tick-borne illnesses each year, but deaths are rare.
Former Senator Kay Hagan died this week from complications from a tick bite.
Infectious Disease Expert, Dr. Christopher Ohl, said he sees a handful of patients each year who have been bitten by ticks.
He added lyme disease and viruses are rare in North Carolina, but there three tick-borne infections to worry about here.
“One is Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which is in the spotted fever group. The other is ehrlichia or ehrlichiosis, which comes from that little tick which you may have seen that has a big white spot on its back, the lone star tick. And then the third one is a kind of group of infections related to Rocky Mountain spotted fever,” said Dr. Ohl.
Health officials said they can be treated by antibiotics. (See link for full story and news video)
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**Comment**
The article stupidly states that Lyme disease and viruses are rare in North Carolina. I’m from Wisconsin and just had an infected North Carolina patient contact me yesterday. Now why on earth would someone from NC contact me? I’ll tell you why – they aren’t believed down South: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/05/31/no-lyme-in-the-south-guess-again/
https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/24/no-lyme-in-oklahoma-yeah-right/
https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/09/24/arkansas-kids-denied-lyme-treatment/ This one really gets me….listen to what this bonehead had to say:
According to Dr. Naveen Patil, Director of the Infectious Disease Program, ADH,
“We don’t have Lyme Disease in Arkansas, we have the ticks that transmit Lyme Disease but we don’t have any recorded cases of Lyme Disease.”
Wow. Illogic at its best.
Dr. Ohl says to just wait and see if you develop symptoms. Stupid, stupid advice. This “wait and see” approach is dooming patients to a life-time of suffering. According to ILADS:
- Based on animal studies, ILADS recommends that known blacklegged tick bites be treated with 20 days of doxycycline (barring any contraindications).
- Given the low success rates in trials treating EM rashes for 20 or fewer days, ILADS recommends that patients receive 4-6 weeks of doxycycline, amoxicillin or cefuroxime. A minimum of 21 days of azithromycin is also acceptable, especially in Europe. All patients should be reassessed at the end of their initial therapy and, when necessary, antibiotic therapy should be extended.
- ILADS recommends that patients with persistent symptoms and signs of Lyme disease be evaluated for other potential causes before instituting additional antibiotic therapy. https://www.ilads.org/patient-care/ilads-treatment-guidelines/
And a recent study states that treating prophylactically if TBI’s are suspected is warranted: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/07/12/start-treatment-if-tbis-are-suspected/. Also see: https://www.lymedisease.org/lyme-basics/lyme-disease/diagnosis/, and https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/09/02/microbiologist-holly-ahern-on-lyme-disease-how-did-we-get-here/.
If you’ve been bitten by a tick but aren’t believed and are told Lyme doesn’t exist in the South, go somewhere else.
Madison Area Lyme Support Group 