Professor hypothesizes level of humidity predictor for ticks
Jeff Sullivan
Issue date: 11/7/08 Section: News
Mather emphasized this is still all observation and theory, but he believes this is a key factor in determining a tick bite risk level based on humidity data.
"What a public service that would be if we could know this relationship for sure," he said. "That's my goal, is to have basically ... an environmentally driven predictor of tick activity that could be integrated into some kind of [daily reported] index."
He added it is not hard to prevent tick bites, as permethrin-based tick repellent has become extremely effective and user friendly.
"You can actually apply that to clothing, and it'll survive washing even for a couple of weeks," Director of Medical Services at Health Services Dr. Fortunato Procopio said. "Say you're a kind of person who likes to do hiking, likes to be outdoors or maybe you're in environmental sciences and you have to be outdoors," he said. "You could use this permethrin on those items of clothing that you'd be out wearing. It's a pretty dang good repellent."
Procopio said prevention is the best defense against deer tick transmitted diseases, especially when it comes to Lyme disease. He said because a patient in the early stages of Lyme disease exhibits symptoms that are not so different from that of a flu, it is difficult for early detection.
There are tests for Lyme disease, but they take longer to show results than the gestation period of the bacterium, and are not always accurate.
"Someone says, 'I've been bitten by a tick and I want to be treated,'" he said. "If you think you might have Lyme disease, go talk to your physician, because if [they] believe it's Lyme disease, he or she is going to treat you without doing a test."
Procopio said this is not a good thing, as the treatment involves 14 to 21 days of antibiotics. Heavy antibiotic use over time can immunize bacteria, rendering the medicine useless later on, so doctors are not prescribing them frivolously.
Procopio emphasized, again, that prevention is the best medicine.
"If you're living in Southern Rhode Island, you want to take precautions to avoid ticks," he said. "We have close to the second highest [infection rate] of Lyme disease in the country."
"What a public service that would be if we could know this relationship for sure," he said. "That's my goal, is to have basically ... an environmentally driven predictor of tick activity that could be integrated into some kind of [daily reported] index."
He added it is not hard to prevent tick bites, as permethrin-based tick repellent has become extremely effective and user friendly.
"You can actually apply that to clothing, and it'll survive washing even for a couple of weeks," Director of Medical Services at Health Services Dr. Fortunato Procopio said. "Say you're a kind of person who likes to do hiking, likes to be outdoors or maybe you're in environmental sciences and you have to be outdoors," he said. "You could use this permethrin on those items of clothing that you'd be out wearing. It's a pretty dang good repellent."
Procopio said prevention is the best defense against deer tick transmitted diseases, especially when it comes to Lyme disease. He said because a patient in the early stages of Lyme disease exhibits symptoms that are not so different from that of a flu, it is difficult for early detection.
There are tests for Lyme disease, but they take longer to show results than the gestation period of the bacterium, and are not always accurate.
"Someone says, 'I've been bitten by a tick and I want to be treated,'" he said. "If you think you might have Lyme disease, go talk to your physician, because if [they] believe it's Lyme disease, he or she is going to treat you without doing a test."
Procopio said this is not a good thing, as the treatment involves 14 to 21 days of antibiotics. Heavy antibiotic use over time can immunize bacteria, rendering the medicine useless later on, so doctors are not prescribing them frivolously.
Procopio emphasized, again, that prevention is the best medicine.
"If you're living in Southern Rhode Island, you want to take precautions to avoid ticks," he said. "We have close to the second highest [infection rate] of Lyme disease in the country."
