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> --0-813577575-1212281186=:39730 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Hi Terry: I though you might find this observation useful. If you go out in the woods today, you're in for a big surprise. Ten species of ticks have been discovered in NS. "Paul S. Boyer" <psboyer@eastlink.ca> wrote: The tick you report (Dermocentor variabilis) is spread and encouraged by dog ownership, sorry to say. You should learn to recognize it: males and females look quite different. It is the commonest carrier of the dreaded Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, a rickettsial infection with a discouragingly high fatality rate (roughly 5 to 30% in untreated cases). The disease is rare, and I don't know whether it has been reported from Nova Scotia — but that in itself makes it more dangerous should you contract it, because the local doctors may be unfamiliar with the symptoms. Many doctors have never seen a case, even in areas where it is relatively abundant (such as eastern Massachusetts). Dog ticks will readily bite humans, but generally they crawl around a bit, prospecting (as it were) before they dig in. Therefore, a good practice is to strip down completely after being out in woods or grasslands, and have someone inspect you thoroughly. (This is where friendship counts!) The ticks can be killed simply by dropping them into a jar of water with a small amount of wetting agent (soap or detergent). The tick will fall to the bottom of the jar and drown after a few hours. It is not necessary to use kerosene to kill the ticks (which is an old country practice, but introduces its own dangers). After handling ticks, wash your hands well, for the rickettsia can be transmitted by contact, particularly contact with mangled ticks. The treatment for Rock Mountain Spotted Fever is very simple, cheap, and effective. The problem is getting the physician to recognize the symptoms in time. There should be no delay. There is a good Wikipedia article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountain_spotted_fever The only inaccuracy in the article is its implication that treatment had to await the discovery of some antibiotics in the 1940s. Actually, the antibiotics were available long before anyone tried them on the disease. The treatment discovery was made by a country doctor who found a case, and not seeing any remedy listed in his reference books, tried tetracycline as a shot-in-the-dark. It worked. No one had realized that earlier, because rickettsial organisms could not be cultured in the lab. — Paul On May 28, 2008, at 4:30 PM, David & Alison Webster wrote: Hi Jim & Andrew, May 28, 2008 Thanks for the advice. I took them in to Natural Resources and was assured that all were American Dog Tick. There turned out to be a third. After having searched myself twice last evening I found one on my leg this morning. A while back someone got upset by a fly in their bottled water. I wonder what the reaction to a cupfull of ticks in a sleeping bag would be ? For everyone else, please remember that unidentified ticks should be turned in if possible. to the Museum. Put them in a small pill bottle with a bit of moist paper towel, or just Scotch-tape them to a piece of paper. There are at least 10 kinds of ticks in Nova Scotia, and the authorities are still interested in the distribution and abundance particularly of the black-legged or deer tick which carries the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. --0-813577575-1212281186=:39730 Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Hi Terry:<br><br>I though you might find this observation useful. <br>If you go out in the woods today, you're in for a big surprise. Ten species of ticks have been discovered in NS.<br><br><b><i>"Paul S. Boyer" <psboyer@eastlink.ca></i></b> wrote:<blockquote class="replbq" style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> The tick you report (<i>Dermocentor variabilis</i>) is spread and encouraged by dog ownership, sorry to say. You should learn to recognize it: males and females look quite different.<div><br></div><div>It is the commonest carrier of the dreaded Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, a rickettsial infection with a discouragingly high fatality rate (roughly 5 to 30% in untreated cases). The disease is rare, and I don't know whether it has been reported from Nova Scotia — but that in itself makes it more dangerous should you contract it, because the local doctors may be unfamiliar with the symptoms. Many doctors have never seen a case, even in areas where it is relatively abundant (such as eastern Massachusetts).<div><br></div><div>Dog ticks will readily bite humans, but generally they crawl around a bit, prospecting (as it were) before they dig in. Therefore, a good practice is to strip down completely after being out in woods or grasslands, and have someone inspect you thoroughly. (This is where friendship counts!) The ticks can be killed simply by dropping them into a jar of water with a small amount of wetting agent (soap or detergent). The tick will fall to the bottom of the jar and drown after a few hours. It is not necessary to use kerosene to kill the ticks (which is an old country practice, but introduces its own dangers).</div><div><br></div><div>After handling ticks, wash your hands well, for the rickettsia can be transmitted by contact, particularly contact with mangled ticks.</div><div><br></div><div>The treatment for Rock Mountain Spotted Fever is very simple, cheap, and effective. The problem is getting the physician to recognize the symptoms in time. <i>There should be no delay.</i></div><div><br></div><div>There is a good Wikipedia article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountain_spotted_fever</div><div><br></div><div>The only inaccuracy in the article is its implication that treatment had to await the discovery of some antibiotics in the 1940s. Actually, the antibiotics were available long before anyone tried them on the disease. The treatment discovery was made by a country doctor who found a case, and not seeing any remedy listed in his reference books, tried tetracycline as a shot-in-the-dark. It worked. No one had realized that earlier, because rickettsial organisms could not be cultured in the lab. </div><div><br></div><div>— Paul</div><div><br></div><div><br><div><div>On May 28, 2008, at 4:30 PM, David & Alison Webster wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite">Hi Jim & Andrew, &nbs