Menace in your yard

Vigilance is key as tick season begins

It may be the most dangerous place you venture in the great outdoors this summer.

Your own backyard.

As the Triangle continues to expand into surrounding woods, some longtime residents of those woods may be loath to leave. Deer, for instance. And where you have deer -- which Charles Apperson, an entomologist at N.C. State University, describes as "reservoirs of pathogens" -- you tend to find ticks. Most notably the dread lone star tick.

"This particular tick is abundant in urban areas," says Apperson. "It's very aggressive and will readily attack people. It has high nuisance potential." And, Apperson adds, because of the mild winter, the lone star tick is likely to be more of a nuisance than usual this year.

Of the 850 species of ticks known worldwide, there are only four in North Carolina that bite people, according to NCSU's College of Veterinary Medicine. One of those is the lone star, known for the white dot on its back. It, as well as the locally present American dog tick and dog tick, carries the most dreaded tick-related disease in these parts: Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

(Named, incidentally, not for its prevalence in the Rocky Mountains, but rather for the lab that discovered it.)

North Carolina leads the nation in incidences of spotted fever. "The climate and the animals here make it attractive for that tick," says Dr. Wes Wallace, a wilderness medicine specialist with UNC Hospitals.

With temperatures starting to rise into the 80s, now is the time to be particularly tick-vigilant.

Aggressive and prevalent as the these ticks may be, they're no reason to quarantine yourself indoors this summer. The area's experts say faithfully following a tick action plan can keep you from suffering the effects of spotted fever, which can begin with a fever and flulike symptoms and escalate to paralysis and even death.

First, pay attention to what you wear when you head into a forested area.

"Wear snug clothing," suggests Wallace. Preferably something treated with the insecticide permethrin. Some clothes, he says, come pretreated and can withstand numerous washings. Wear long sleeves and long pants, tucking your pants into your socks.

When you return from a trip in the woods, strip down and check yourself thoroughly, says Wallace. Pay particular attention to your hair, waist and groin.

If you find a tick, the consensus is to simply pluck it off with tweezers. Forget the burned matchhead -- "It's a good way to burn yourself," says Wallace -- and other exotic removal techniques.

Take no chances with the tick, Apperson says. Flush it immediately.

"If you remove the tick early -- generally within the first 24 hours -- the chances of that tick transferring a harmful organism that will make you sick is greatly reduced," says Dr. Ed Breitschwerdt, a professor of medicine and infectious diseases in NCSU's College of Veterinary Medicine.

Mark the date you removed the tick on a calendar and keep an eye on the affected area.

"Any signs of associated infections might be a tick-related disease," says Dr. Brian Quigly, an emergency room physician with Rex Hospital in Raleigh. Such signs could include a purplish rash around the bite, including one resembling a target.

If such a rash develops, or if you develop a fever, chills, headache, muscle aches or flulike symptoms, go to the doctor immediately.

"With antibiotics, it's simple to deal with a tick bite early on," says UNC's Wallace. "It's devilishly difficult later on."