Author tells reader "Dousing the tick with petroleum jelly, alcohol
or ammonia will sometimes encourage it to loosen it's grip enough so that it
can be worked out with a pair of tweezers". Aaagghhh, ofcourse I wrote and encourage you to do the same.
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/columnists/view.bg?articleid=104504&format=&page=1
Garfield: Bugs more than just nuisance
By Curt Garfield / Outdoor View
Sunday, July 24, 2005
In case you haven't noticed, I'll make it official. Mosquito and tick seasons are here. From now until the first frosts of autumn some 10 trillion of the little rascals will invade the United States.
And unlike years past, they bring with them deadly viruses such as Eastern Equine Encephalitis, which can make you very sick at best and has resulted in at least one death in southeastern Massachusetts.
For those of us who are a little fuzzy with the math, that amounts to 41,000 mosquitoes apiece. If we paid the government a penny for each of them, there would be enough money to retire the national debt. The entire 10 trillion would fill the Grand Canyon to overflowing.
The long and the short of it is that you're going to hear from quite a few of those 41,000 mosquitoes, not to mention the no-see-ums, black flies, ticks, chiggers and deer flies. Like it or not, you've got the makings for plenty of discomfort unless you make a few preparations ahead of time.
This is especially important this summer because of the threat of West Nile Virus, which is carried by mosquitos. Budget constraints will limit the amount of spraying done by cities and towns, and the Fish and Wildlife Service plans no spraying in the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.
With MetroWest suddenly supporting an ever-growing whitetail deer population, local residents are more aware of deer ticks that carry Lyme Disease than ever before, and with good reason. Lyme isease is nasty at best and can be fatal at worst. It is not something to be taken lightly.
Anybody with a dog who gets into tall grass, shrubbery, brush or woodlands on a regular basis doesn't have to be told about tick season. Ticks have been getting bad press lately because of the Lyme Disease scare, but most ticks that are bigger than the period at the end of this sentence are dog ticks and not Lyme carriers.
These critters start out on mice, rabbits and other small rodents before graduating to dogs, cats, and humans. They lie in ambush under the leaves of grass and low brush and drop off on any warm-blooded victim that happens to pass by.
Dog ticks can carry Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, although the disease is not common here in New England. There is evidence that a tick has to be attached to a victim for six hours before it can transmit a virus, so it's wise to check yourself over regularly while in the woods and nip the little critters before they nip you. Ticks like warm, dark places such as under armpits, behind knees and ears and in your hair.
The nasty thing about ticks is that when they bite you they inject a local anesthetic so that you don't feel the bite. That means that they've often fattened up considerably on your blood and gotten a good grip before you discover them. If you do find one that's been attached awhile, don't just grab it and yank it out because the head will often be left attached to you and can cause infection. Dousing the tick with petroleum jelly, alcohol or ammonia will sometimes encourage it to loosen it's grip enough so that it can be worked out with a pair of tweezers.
The initial reaction to ticks and mosquitos is to slap on a heavy dose of bug dope, but that's not always the wisest thing to do. If you have sensitive skin or young children, some of the products on the market today can do more harm than good.
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