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Lionne posted 7/13/2014 17:35 PM

Recently, an acquaintence who lives nearby was diagnosed with malaria, said to have been contracted by a deer tick bite he got at home. Of course he has no recollection of a tick bite, not unusual. I suspect he has babesiosis, it has been in the news as being carried by the deer tick, it is fatal in 1-20 patients and hard to diagnose. And it is traveling into southern NJ from NY. Yay.
Anyone have any info? Other than the common sense stuff about avoiding ticks? Hard to do if you like to garden or to sit outdoors and it is 90 degrees.

I was cutting shrubs back, long pants sprayed with deet, long shirt, hat, and found four buggers on the inside of my tucked in pants. Hopefully, I missed none.

Wish I was a dog and could get the vaccine!

purplejacket4 posted 7/13/2014 18:03 PM

You're probably correct. Malaria is only spread through Mosquitos and is currently not present in nature in the US.

The other is rare but does travel in the northeast through tick bites.

Long sleeves, long pants tucked in boots and the dreaded DEET is how you prevent ticks. Obviously it's hot so you want to wear light colored cloths and drink lots of water.

tushnurse posted 7/14/2014 09:01 AM

Sulfur powder on your ankles wrists and waist band. My dad swears by the stuff.
My Grandma (a real German) swore by vinegar, if you had enough vinegar in your diet mosquitos and other bugs would leave you alone. I don't know about the science of this, but I can tell you she never got bitten, I can also tell you that I eat a fair amount of it in my diet, and NEVER get mosquito bites....Ticks now that's another story.....
I had so many bites and dealt with so many this spring I was ready to put the dogs stuff on my neck, or hair.
Within the past couple of weeks they do not seem as plentiful though.

TrulyReconciled posted 7/14/2014 10:25 AM

While ticks prefer deer as hosts they don't pick up the Lyme spirochete from them but rather from rodents. That's why one of the biggest problems in the east is the white-footed mouse.

These work and can help as a preventative, plus you can make your own (less expensively):

That being said, white clothing, fences to keep deer out (where possible) etc. and DEET all help.

[This message edited by TrulyReconciled at 10:26 AM, July 14th (Monday)]

Lionne posted 7/14/2014 13:06 PM

TR, I'm liking this idea. I suppose this might cut down on all species of ticks. What do you think?

TrulyReconciled posted 7/14/2014 14:17 PM

The mice do nest with the cotton balls, which treat them for ticks.