Ticks and the potentially serious diseases they carry are out in abundance in Arkansas this year, with experts urging hikers and hunters to watch out for the seed-sized crawlers.
MedExpress Urgent Care, which has more than a dozen walk-in clinics in the state, reports a 43 percent increase in tick-related visits so far this year compared with this time last year, though it wouldn't disclose the number of visits in the comparison.
"It's usually for a rash that the tick gives them," said Dr. Lynnette Morrison, who works at the MedExpress location in Fayetteville. She's also seen patients who were a little too rough removing a tick: "We remove quite a few tick heads."
The Arkansas Department of Health hasn't seen any jump in the number of tick-borne cases, a spokesman said. Still, the department says more than 1,100 people annually have come down with spotted fever, Lyme disease or other diseases carried by the arachnids in recent years, and experts agree the state is a regular hotbed for them. Two Lyme disease cases were confirmed in the state earlier this year, the first in a decade.
"It just seems like a normal, ticky summer," Jennifer Ogle, land management specialist for the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission and a frequent hiker of the commission's protected lands, wrote in an email Thursday. A clump of 100 or more seed ticks, which are immature and tiny but can painfully bite, had grabbed onto her pants just that afternoon in north-central Arkansas.
"Unfortunately, I have to think about them every day this time of year," she said.
By far, the most common tick-borne disease is spotted fever, accounting for almost 800 cases so far this year counted by the Health Department. The disease can cause a splotchy rash, nausea and other symptoms and can be severe enough to require hospitalization or in rare cases be deadly, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The same tick can also spread ehrlichiosis, which causes flu-like symptoms and has affected at least 143 Arkansans this year.
Lyme disease is most common in the Northeast U.S. and often causes a signature bull's-eye rash and pain throughout the body. The cases confirmed this year might've put people on the alert for tick-related trouble, Morrison said. Gov. Asa Hutchinson proclaimed May as Lyme and Tick-Borne Diseases Awareness Month.
Kelly Loftin, an extension entomologist with the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, also suggested Lyme's reappearance played a role in MedExpress's bump in visits, adding he hasn't seen ticks in abnormal numbers. Washington Regional Medical Center also hasn't seen a jump in tick-related visits, spokesman Gina Maddox said.
"It doesn't sound very scientific, but we're in the middle of the tick belt," Loftin said. "We've got ample hosts, wild hosts -- deer's a good example. We've got plenty of habitat."
Spokesmen for Northwest Health and Mercy Northwest Arkansas didn't return phone messages last week requesting comment.
Morrison and the Health Department advised people to wear long pants and use effective bug repellents, often with DEET or a compound called picaridin. Ogle said ticks seem less bothered by DEET than before, so she treats her pants with permethrin, which kills the ticks. She also makes a habit of carrying duct tape to grab those seed tick clumps.
If a tick has bitten, gently grab it with tweezers as close to the skin as possible and pull upward instead of twisting or at an angle -- otherwise the head can break off and remain in the skin, Morrison said.
People should see a health care provider if they feel sick, Health Department spokesman Marisha DiCarlo said. They don't need to save the tick for testing, because that could lead to a false alarm, or someone could miss the tick that actually caused the illness.
"For the most part, if a tick is removed within 12 hours of attachment, there is no transmission, even if the tick does have a disease," DiCarlo added in an email.
Ticks have a reputation as a summer problem, but Ogle and Loftin said they can linger into the end of autumn.
Metro on 09/04/2017