Hunter's Safety Tips

For Immediate Release: December 2006
Contact: Judith Weeg (515) 432 3628

Hunter's Safety Tips: Ticks Carry Lyme Disease Year Around

Iowa - Hunting is an age-old tradition, but coming out of the forest with more than a deer or pheasant can pack a wollop that can take months to years to recover from – and that is – a tick bite.  Lyme Disease is becoming more and more prevalent in the Midwest.

Lyme Disease is a serious and potentially fatal malady, but a few simple measures can greatly reduce your chances of becoming infected.  Here are some precautionary tips:

• Keep your body covered as much as possible.  Wear a hat and gloves, long-sleeved shirt or jacket and long pants.  Tuck pant legs into socks.
• Spray your clothes with products containing DEET or permethrin.  For extra protection, wrap duct tape with the sticky side out around the opening of socks, pant legs and sleeves.
• Upon returning from a hike, hunt or camping trip, put your clothes in a dryer for 30 minutes before washing.  Water in washing machines may not be hot enough to kill ticks.
• Take a very warm shower after coming out of the woods.  Check each part of your body thoroughly for ticks.
• If you find a tick, do not panic.  Grasp its head (not its body) with tweezers close to the skin and pull in straight out without twisting.  Use antiseptic on the area where you found the tick, disinfect tweezers and wash your hands immediately.  If unable to remove the whole tick, see a physician.  Consult a doctor about possible testing for Lyme disease, especially if you have flu-like symptoms or rash.
• Hunters should look out for ticks on the game they kill.  Only carry game on a tarp, never draped around the neck.  Drag it behind you while walking and only transport it outside your vehicle.  Once home, hang game over a buck of three-quarters Clorox, one-quarter water solution for 24 hours.  The solution will kill any ticks that fall off the game.
• When dressing the game, avoid contact with the animal’s blood.  Wear plastic gloves, goggles, and a plastic apron or a trash bag with armholes.  Freeze the meat immediately and cook thoroughly before eating.

There are 300 strains of the Lyme bacteria in the United States.  All tick species, even the good, ole Dog tick can pass Lyme disease onto the human host.  The prevalent Midwest tick is the gray Lonstani: tick marked with a white dot. 

What’s more, ticks are capable of transmitting the infection 12 months a year, says Iowa State University entomologist Ken Holscher, “They do not reach the same level of development at the same time each year,” he explains, and thus the ticks that reach adult stages by the end of the summer can remain active as temperatures drop.  “It takes two things for a tick to survive in fall and winter,” Holscher says, “An available host – ticks aren’t picky – and relative humidity.” Luring hunting seasons, ticks can be found in thick brush or on tall grasses.

Lyme disease, if detected early, can be treated and cured with several months of antibiotic treatment.  Misdiagnosed Lyme disease leads to incurable, chronic Lyme disease.  Signs and symptoms of the early stage are:

• Flu like symptoms- fatigue, muscle and joint pain, headache, fever, chills, swollen glands, sore throat, stiff neck
• ½ of infected people have a rash

Signs and symptoms of the late stage may occur weeks, months, and even years after the bite and the symptoms may come and go.  Peak disease is associated with increasing numbers of spirochetes in the tissues while regression follows the antibody response.  It is very cyclic and fluctuates in intensity so that symptoms are present on some days and not on others.  Signs and symptoms of late stage include the following:

• Continued flu-like symptoms with swollen glands, low grade fevers
• Depression, psychiatric disorders
• Sensitivity to lights, sound, motion, odors, blurred vision, or loss of sight
• Cognitive dysfunction, difficulty organizing or making decisions, memory loss
• Muscle pain, weakness, numbness, tingling, motor dysfunction, and paralysis
• Stiff neck, severe headaches, loss of balance, poor coordination, dizziness, Bell’s Palsy
• Irregular heartbeat, palpitations, heart block, chest pain, difficulty breathing
• Tremors, seizures, panic attacks, anxiety, sleep disorders, swollen joints

For more information, contact Judith Weeg at the Lyme Disease Association of Iowa.  Send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: Lyme Disease, PO Box 86, Story City, IA 50236, or call (515) 432-3628. Tick Remover Kits -- $4.99 (Kits consist of tweezers, vial and lid, and magnifying glass.  Please make check payable to Lyme Disease Association.