[SCA-AE] Lyme disease at Pennsic

[Taranach McLeod]

Perhaps checking the data available at Pennsylvania Department of
Health http://www.dsf.health.state.pa.us/health/CWP/view.asp?A=171&QUESTION_ID=230464
BEFORE discounting the dangers would be a wise idea... the numbers
have been rising in Butler county over the past five years from 24
(higher than your quote) in 2003 to 46 in 2007. While the number of
incidents may be lower in Butler county than in other areas of the
state, it is significant that there are even less reported cases in
surrounding higher population counties.

Lyme Disease is a rather tricky disease to diagnose. It is far easier
and safer to check for it if you have been in a risk area, than to
depend on the local doctor to catch it merely from the symptoms.
Especially if you know that there was a tick bite.  Pennsic could be
considered a higher risk area merely because of the types of
activities we are involved in such as woods battles and walking
through fields, as well as many people wearing less protective
clothing than recommended.

While there is no need for hysteria or dire warnings, if you know that
you were bitten or suspect so, it is safer to keep that in mind if you
need to visit a doctor for any of the symptoms for Lyme disease. An
informed doctor can check for and diagnose much easier and faster if
he knows of the possibility.

Taranach

On Tue, Aug 12, 2008 at 5:12 PM, Carnaby Collectibles
<carnabyservices at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Well, yes and no - although it's generally true that the tick needs to be attached for at least a day or more, improper removal, or a systematically infected tick can cause the transmission of Lyme much faster.
> I'll give everyone my story from last year (and BTW, I'm near Scranton). I had this funny little round spot on my arm (never saw a tick, but keep in mind that the deer ticks that spread LD in our area are about the size of a sesame seed - not like the bigger dog ticks - plus, the rash does not always happen at the site of the bite, unfortunately). Friends said, "gee, maybe you should get checked for Lyme disease" and of course I ignored them. Had a light case of what I thought was the flu. Then last November, six months later, I had fevers of 104 for three days, sweating chills (could wring out my hair), knees swollen to the size of canteloupes, incredible joint pain. Blood tests came back positive for Lyme - but the scary part was that the first one did not, and they had to do a more expensive test to do the final determination. Two weeks of Doxycycline and more or less back to normal, although the joint pain lasted a lot longer. I was pretty much
>  crippled for a couple of weeks and was literally having to crawl up the stairs. BUT...had I had a less responsive doctor, I could have been in real trouble - I was the first cse he had even seen in our area, but luckily he knew what he was doing. The later stage effects from Lyme are no joke.
> Anyhow - a great resources is www.lyme.org, and there's a lot of other good info out on the web as well. A lot of great photos there of the different ways the rash can look.
> But bottom line, if you see a suspicious rash (which will not always be the classic "bulls eye"), get yourself in. Don't go through what I did because I ignored it.
> Cheers - Tiercelin
>
>
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