The Tiny Terror Lurking in Your Yard
She laid down in bed for a nap. By the next morning, she was lying in another bed, with a ventilator doing the breathing for her...
It was Labour Day in Canada in 2021. MaryAnn Harris felt unusually tired. But hours after trying to rest, she started feeling queasy. Then the double vision set in.
Her husband Charles whisked her off to the emergency room. At the hospital, her brain started swelling. She became paralyzed except for one toe. And by the morning, she was hooked up to a ventilator and on life support.
That ventilator remained running until last month when MaryAnn succumbed to her illness at age 71.
As it turns out, the source of her ailment had been lurking in her backyard...
Charles believes a tick bit MaryAnn in her yard or during one of her strolls around the local community garden.
And it infected her with the Powassan virus, named after the town in Canada where it infected its first victim in 1958. This disease can lead to life-threatening encephalitis (what MaryAnn had) and meningitis (inflammation of the tissues surrounding your brain and spinal cord).
Symptoms of Powassan virus disease show within one to five weeks after the tick bite. It may begin with mild, flu-like symptoms like headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, and fatigue. Severe cases include neurological symptoms like confusion, having trouble talking, loss of coordination, tremors, seizures, and paralysis.
Here in the U.S., most cases occur in northeastern and Great Lakes states.
The black-legged, or deer, tick typically carries this virus. It's a dark, reddish-brown, teardrop-shaped arachnid. Fully grown, it's about the size of a sesame seed.
A tick carrying Lyme disease-causing bacteria must latch on for about three days. But it's much speedier for the Powassan virus... A tick needs to bite and hang on to your skin for just minutes or a few hours to transmit the virus.
According to a study from the New England Regional Center of Excellence in Vector-borne Diseases, Powassan virus infection doesn't always result in symptoms for everyone. Most cases begin with nonspecific symptoms. In other words, it's all too easy for folks to chalk up their symptoms to something else... or for doctors to not connect the dots and not test for the virus right away.
Thankfully, the Powassan virus disease is rare. Researchers estimate that 3,000 to 5,000 Americans risk exposure to Powassan virus-carrying ticks each year. That's compared with 476,000 reports for Lyme disease, the most prevalent tickborne disease in the U.S. Still, the number of cases rose from 64 to 270 cases over roughly the past decade.
Plus, this viral disease has no cure. Meanwhile, antibiotics can treat the bacteria that cause Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
Worse, each tick can carry a smorgasbord of disease-causing agents. According to the same study, 60% of ticks carrying Powassan virus also carry the bacteria responsible for Lyme disease.
Even worse, climate change has created a longer tick season by the year. Once considered a "summertime problem," tick season now starts in early spring and lasts all the way through late fall, as long as it's above freezing.
Your best approach to avoiding tickborne disease comes from taking steps to prevent the bites...
Know your surroundings.
Most ticks live in wooded areas and high grass. If your yard is a high-traffic zone for deer, you'll find ticks even if you mow regularly and remove grass clippings promptly.
Ticks also hitchhike on other animals like mice and rats, which means even cities aren't safe from these pests. Make sure to keep your yard free of trash to discourage visits from wildlife looking for food or shelter.
Don't stray from that path.
Ticks love lurking in "edge habitats." Examples include the border between a trimmed lawn and a wooded area and the sides of a trail or sidewalk that have tall brush.
Some health officials recommend making a backyard "moat" if you have a forest near your backyard. Just spread some wood chips between the woods and your yard to create a border that's a couple of feet wide.
A tick's quest.
It sounds like the title of a charming Disney/Pixar movie. But it's far from cute. Questing is the term for when these tiny parasites climb up on plants and perch there, with their front legs up in the air and ready to grab onto a passing deer or your pants leg.
And get this... the particularly aggressive lone star tick can scramble up that blade of grass three times faster than a black-legged tick. That's another reason why it's so important to avoid tick terrain and do skin checks as soon as possible after your excursion.
"Stone walls do not a prison make..."
But stone walls (and woodpiles) do make for a great tick hangout spot. The nooks and crannies serve as dark and moist lairs for ticks and mice. So remember to wear protective clothing or check your skin after working near piles of stone and/or wood.
Steer clear of crunchy leaves.
Autumn isn't far off. But when it does roll around, you might not want to let your kids or Fido the dog roll around in those fallen leaves. That's because leaf litter provides dark, moist hiding spots for ticks and mice during autumn.
Bag up fallen leaves in your yard and dispose of them. Better yet, do what I do... Compost the leaves and use it for mulch. Shredding them up with a lawnmower allows for faster decomposition.
On that note, be careful around ground-cover plants in your garden, too. They include ivy, pachysandra, and creeping thyme, to name a few.
Finally, if you do find a tick on you or your pet, don't panic... Check out this issue of Retirement Millionaire for tips on how to handle a tick bite and more. You can get a trial subscription right here.
Keep these preventive steps in mind to stay disease-free this summer – and fall – no matter where you go.
Got any tips for dealing with ticks and other pests? Send them to us at feedback@healthandwealthbulletin.com.
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Here's to our health, wealth, and a great retirement,
Dr. David Eifrig and the Health & Wealth Bulletin Research Team
July 30, 2024
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