OPINION — Editorial

Under the radar

And under-reported

We knew an old boy who liked to turkey hunt in south Arkansas. One night, after another tiring day of unsuccessfully calling toms, he found one of those nasty ticks on his leg, buried head-deep. As he's been doing all his life, he removed the little critter, washed up, and went to bed.

And woke up with a fever. He was bedridden for three days.

By the time he got on his doctor's schedule, the fever went away. So he canceled the appointment. But he learned his lesson well: Spray down before going into the Arkansas woods in April.


There have been only two confirmed cases of Lyme disease in Arkansas over the past decade, but it may be the process of confirming the disease that's sick. When more than a score of Arkansans showed up to tell Governor Asa Hutchinson their alarming stories, it was left to Amy Rose of the Arkansas Lyme Foundation to point out the danger of under-estimating the incidence of the disease in Arkansas--as she promptly did. "As you can tell," she said, noting the size of the crowd, "it's more than two here."

What's more, the folks who did show up to talk to the governor represented the walking wounded, those who can still get around despite being struck by the illness. Theirs was the best-case scenario for victims of this illness; the worst cases may present a number of symptoms--including chronic fatigue, a loss of memory and arthritis. The governor gave official notice the other day: May is now Lyme and Tick-Borne Diseases Awareness month. The official proclamation noted, tick-borne infections are "seriously under-reported across the nation, especially in Arkansas."

This quiet plague has snuck up on even the country's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which officially records some 30,000 cases of the disease every year. But unofficially, the CDC says the number of actual incidences of the disease every year would be more like 10 times that number.

City-dwellers aren't immune, either, for it can show up via vegetable gardens, greenhouses, and other clearly demarcated spaces like dog walks. Apparently ticks don't read signs. A suave state senator like David Sanders of Little Rock remembers coming down with Lyme disease, and says he's hoping to hold hearings about the disease--which would certainly raise awareness of its dangers. Why not also print up pamphlets about Lyme disease, and have them distributed along with every hunting and fishing license issued by the state? The health We the People of Arkansas might save that way could be our own. This state's Legislature is empowered to spend money even when it's not formally in session, and warning folks about the danger of Lyme disease would seem a sound investment in the health and welfare of Arkansans.

Editorial on 05/26/2017

Upcoming Events