posted
This is one of several newspaper articles which have appeared in North Carolina newspapers recently following the 2nd death this year from RMSF and a statewide alert regarding that disease.
I thought it was interesting that the one survivor contracted the disease a 2nd time 3 years later -- not supposed to happen. Supposedly you develop immunity.
I thought you could only develop immunity to a virus? I don't think RMSF is classed as a virus?
Anyway, near the end of the article it mentions that the army is trying to develop a vacine.
Submitted photo This photo was made 24 hours after a tick was removed from Freddy Badgett's side last year. The ink outline around the bite location tracks the spreading infection.
Published: Friday, July 11, 2008 8:48 PM CDT Tom Joyce
Staff Reporter
Ticks are not something to mess around with - just ask local residents David Cooke and Freddy Badgett.
Three years ago, the effects of a tick bite resulted in Cooke being partially paralyzed for weeks and having to spend about 14 days in Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem after contracting Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
Cooke, 27, of the Holly Springs community, also suffered ill effects from medication prescribed to fight the illness, which arose from exposure to a tick in his yard. ``I was out of work for a year and a half,'' he said Friday.
And if that were not enough, Cooke recently got Rocky Mountain spotted fever again, after a camping trip to Virginia, but said he has been able to recover pretty well from the second bout.
Meanwhile, Badgett, 52, of Mount Airy, has his own horror story related to a tick bite he suffered last year. Within a day after removing a tick from his side, the site of the wound resembled what Badgett called a ``mini-volcano.''
He was put on antibiotics for weeks, with the experience leaving him weakened - but alive.
A Wilkes County man was not so lucky recently, when he died from what was thought to be Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The death prompted the issuance of a special warning by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services about the dangers of ticks.
``Unfortunately, North Carolina often has the highest number of reported Rocky Mountain spotted fever cases in the country,'' said state Health Director Leah Devlin.
``There were 665 cases reported statewide during 2007 - with one death - and we expect to have a similar number this year. Sadly, the death of the Wilkes County resident demonstrates that the disease can sometimes be fatal, so we urge everyone in the state to take precautions seriously.''
Based on their experiences, Cooke and Badgett say that such warnings should be heeded, especially taking quick action as soon as a problem is suspected. ``Once it goes over a certain amount of time, it progresses,'' said Badgett.
``It got the best of me''
Cooke recalls vividly the details of his ordeal with Rocky Mountain spotted fever three years ago, which involved his girlfriend Amanda discovering a tick on him.
``I was working in the yard, and then a couple of days later, she found one on my head,'' he said. ``I started getting sick about three weeks later.''
At one point, Cooke didn't suspect that the tick was responsible, explaining that he had fallen asleep at a house he was renovating at the time. ``I thought I had been bitten by a spider, because there were these two big knots on my head.''
A feeling of weakness began engulfing his body. ``It just felt like all the energy had gone out of me.''
Cooke added, ``I was eating supper one night and the food kept falling out of my mouth.'' The next morning when trying to brush his teeth, he experienced paralysis on the left side of his face, which was due to a pinched nerve associated with the tick bite.
That's when he visited a doctor and was diagnosed with Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Unfortunately, Cooke's problems were just beginning. He was put on medication that caused its own set of difficulties. ``It makes you sick to your stomach and you can't go out in the sunlight,'' the spotted fever victim said.
The infection caused by the tick bite ended up spreading to his spinal chord and causing another ailment there, which doctors described as ``an uncommon thing,'' he said. It left him paralyzed for about eight weeks, which included a two-week stay in the Winston-Salem hospital. He was given steroids as part of the treatment.
``It got the best of me,'' Cooke said of the illness, which required him to undergo physical therapy and use a cane while recovering.
And it didn't end there. Recently during the spring, a tick attached to his leg while on a camping trip to Danville, Va. Cooke soon began feeling bad again, experiencing effects similar to his earlier case of Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
``Sure enough, I had it again,'' he said, adding that physicians told him this was rare since a person who gets Rocky Mountain spotted fever usually will develop some immunity. The medication he took for the second case got the illness under control, and ``I feel pretty good now,'' he said Friday.
Eight weeks of antibiotics
As a plumber who works in a variety of settings, Freddy Badgett has no idea how he picked up his tick. ``Lord only knows,'' he said.
``I had not realized there was a tick on me until I was showering and felt it on my back,'' he said. ``It was attached.'' He immediately pulled it off, but the problem was far from over.
``Within 24 hours, it was a pronounced place on my side,'' Badgett said of the bite area.
Badgett sought medical treatment soon after, and though he never was actually diagnosed with Rocky Mountain spotted fever or Lyme disease, another ailment linked to ticks, he was prescribed antibiotics as a precaution before any full-fledged symptoms developed. However, Badgett believes that he did have a tick-borne illness.
The strong antibiotics he had to take for eight weeks caused weakness and other problems, ``but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as it could have been,'' Badgett said.
Precautions advised
Based on their experiences, both Badgett and Cooke advise people to check themselves and their loved ones for ticks after spending time in areas where they might be encountered.
Devlin, the state health director, said that if bitten by an infected tick, a person usually will start experiencing fever, severe headaches and nausea within about a week or two.
Soon after the illness begins, sufferers often will develop a red-spotted rash, usually starting on arms and ankles. Pain also can be felt in joints in addition to stomach pain and diarrhea.
Devlin said that while it is possible to be bitten by a tick and not know it, those who do know should be sure to mark the date they find and remove the tick. It is also helpful to save the tick, so its species can be identified.
Precautions recommended by the state include wearing light-colored clothing, which allows one to see ticks crawling on clothing, and tucking pants legs into socks so ticks can't crawl inside pants. Repellents also are effective in discouraging tick attachment.
Body checks should be undertaken upon returning from a potentially tick-infested area, and when examining children, it's advisable to check their hair, a frequent place for ticks to be found.
Even if a tick is infected, it can take several hours to transmit the agent that causes Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Therefore, state health officials advise removing ticks immediately, using tweezers, while protecting fingers with a tissue, paper towel or latex gloves.
The bite area should be washed thoroughly, along with the hands.
Cooke said that as a Rocky Mountain spotted fever sufferer, he recently was contacted by a health department representative to take part in a survey. He learned from her that the Army is trying to develop a vaccine that would immunize people against the illness.
``And I told her as soon as it was ready, to sign me up,'' he said.
posted
You know I was stationed in Landstuhl and worry about contracting Lyme there but I was also bitten by a tick at Ft.Bragg.
I had a tick attatched under my armpit. I discovered it there after some outside training. It was not till later in the evening while at the mall shopping for some clothes.
I noticed my arm was hurting but just written it off as laying on my arm wrong while crawling around on the ground. They let us take off our BDU tops because it was a rather hot day.
Well, while trying on tops I lifted my arm up and noticed it was red under my armpit. That is when I saw the tick. That rash from the site you posted looks pretty darn close to what was under my armpit. It was a bright red raised dot with a red rash all the way around the red dot.
Plus my arm was sore. I did not have anything to remove it being that I was at the mall. I waited till I was on my way to my shift. They removed it at the ER at WOMAC. No one isolated the tick or had me follow up with my PCP. I am BETTING that ER trip isn't in my records either.
I am wondering too if it is possible to have contracted RMSF even though I had the tick removed in less than 24hrs? I know it can be fatal, but what if you remove it withen 24hrs? Any suggestions? Or input? Is there a certian strain they can test for? I'm worried now.
Posts: 109 | From San Antonio,Tx | Registered: May 2008
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bettyg
Unregistered
posted
wow, what a story; great photo of rash! thx bea for posting!
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posted
I didnt know RMSF caused bells palsy????? Thought thtat was Bb- Lyme????
-------------------- Seeking renewed health & vitality. --------------------------------- Do not take anything I say as medical advice - I am NOT a dr! Posts: 830 | From TN | Registered: Aug 2007
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