Tick borne illnesses increasing

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Alarie Bowerman, the Springdale mother of three daughters who contracted Lyme disease in 2016 in a front yard in Lowell, encountered many barriers in having the diagnosis accepted and her daughters treated correctly because the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) claimed Lyme disease didn’t exist in the state.

Bowerman sent reports of the positive Lyme tests to the ADH and got the agency to acknowledge there is Lyme disease in the state. In May 2017, Bowerman and her Arkansas Lyme Foundation co-founder, Amy Rose, prevailed in getting Gov. Asa Hutchinson to declare May to be Lyme and Tick-borne Illnesses Awareness Month. And while the governor was expected to sign a similar proclamation on May 24, Bowerman said ADH is still discouraging physicians from testing for or treating Lyme disease.

“We have seen it go backwards since the Lyme Proclamation last year,” Bowerman said. “Doctors are more resistant. We have heard feedback from patients whose physicians claimed ADH said they can’t list Lyme disease as a diagnosis, and it has to be listed instead as tick fever. Doctors supposedly have been told not to test for Lyme disease here. It is interesting the few doctors who have properly tested in years past are being told they are not supposed to be doing this now.”

Meg Mirivel, spokesperson for ADH, said if a doctor calls ADH for advice on testing a suspected Lyme case, ADH may advise the doctor on testing or treatment based on symptoms, when those symptoms appeared, travel history, and other factors.

“Other tick borne diseases, and several non-tick borne illnesses that may mimic Lyme, are far more common in Arkansas than Lyme, so, when asked, we often recommend testing for those illnesses first,” Mirivel said. “However, the ultimate decision is up to the patient’s doctor. ADH’s role is surveillance of cases, not testing or treatment of patients.”

Lyme disease is on the state’s mandatory reportable disease list. Mirivel said while cases of Lyme disease in the U.S. have increased in the last several years, these increases are mostly in high-incidence states.

“Arkansas is considered a low-incidence state by CDC,” Mirivel said. “It is important for doctors to quickly identify and report cases of tick borne disease in the state. As new tick borne diseases are emerging and becoming better understood, ADH plays an important role in monitoring cases and understanding risks to Arkansans.”

Recently the CDC reported that illnesses from mosquito, tick, and flea bites have tripled in the U.S., with more than 640,000 cases reported from 2004 through 2016. Nine new germs spread by mosquitoes and ticks were discovered or introduced into the U.S. during this time.

“Since 2016 it is worse than ever,” Bowerman said. “We have phone calls, texts and emails numerous times a day from people in Arkansas who have been bitten, have rashes, and flu-like symptoms. They are sick and yet sent home with no medication or five days of medication – which is not enough. No testing is done for Lyme with the mainstream testing that’s available being heavy on false negatives. Lots of people in Arkansas are asking where they can go to be diagnosed and treated properly. Unfortunately, we still don’t have a Lyme literate physician in Arkansas, so people have to go out of state.”

The CDC said Lyme disease accounted for 82% of all tick borne disease reports during 2004–2016. “Vector borne diseases are a large and growing public health problem in the United States, characterized by geographic specificity and frequent pathogen emergence and introduction. To effectively reduce transmission and respond to outbreaks will require major national improvement of surveillance, diagnostics, reporting, and vector control, as well as new tools, including vaccines.”

Bowerman and her daughters are part of a federal anti-trust class action lawsuit against insurance companies and healthcare providers who have refused to test and treat Lyme disease.

About 1,200 people “like” their Arkansas Lyme Foundation Facebook page since it started up in 2017. Bowerman said that’s indicative of the number of people in the state concerned about Lyme disease.

“We are getting more and more people who are desperate, and don’t know what to do,” Bowerman said. “We do our best to help them navigate this horrible and complex disease. We still don’t have anyone in the state who treats it. We are hoping to get that changed through more understanding and awareness about Lyme in Arkansas.”

Karen Welch, R.N., Grassy Knob, who contracted Lyme disease here 15 years ago, said she believes the incidence of Lyme and other tick diseases is increasing even faster than acknowledged by the CDC.

“The CDC makes it difficult to report Lyme or co-infections because they really focus on the Northeast U.S. and upper Midwest,’ Welch said. “Rashes and symptoms that appear in our area in the Central, Western and Southern states are not as likely to be reported.”

The CDC agrees Lyme disease is far underreported: “Recent data from clinical and laboratory diagnoses estimate that Lyme disease infects approximately 300,000 Americans yearly, eight- to tenfold more than the number reported.”

Some scientists have speculated that mosquito and tick diseases are increasing because of climate change allowing them to spread more rapidly. Welch said she is no expert on climate change, but has noted that there seem to be more and more ticks.

“People say that ticks die in the winter time or you don’t see as many,” she said. “I personally have not gotten a tick bite in the winter, but our dog has. Ticks have a way of hiding even when it is very cold.”

Welch said it is unfortunate people have to travel out of state to get Lyme treatment. She personally was on antibiotics for five years but not before the disease did damage to her internal organs such as causing Type II diabetes. She also had neuropathy in the feet and legs as the first symptom, and her adrenal glands decreased in their functioning.

“During the time of treatment, I was also on herbal supplements recommended by my physician,” Welch said. “That is the best way to go, in my opinion.

She recommends being vigilant to avoid ticks. She uses tick spray with Picardin in it even when walking to the mailbox. Welch said if you are going to be in the yard or the woods for a while, wear long pants and pull the socks over the pants before spraying with insect repellant. And even with the heat, long sleeved shirts are recommended.

Welch also recommends removing your clothes after being outside and washing them. Don’t wear the same clothing outdoors more than once.

Welch said the National Lyme & Tick Borne Disease Control and Accountability Act of 2018 was introduced May 18. She said there is an urgent need for the bill to go through that would establish the Office of Oversight and Coordination for Tick-Borne Diseases in the Office of the Secretary of Health & Human Services. Purpose of the bill is to create an integrated national strategy to oversee the creation and establishment of an integrated national strategy to overcome Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases.

3 COMMENTS

  1. The CDC decided we were positive for RMSF after the tick panel, even though it was a mils case.

  2. My husband and I have had Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever after he got a tick that I helped remove 2 to 3 years after a tick panel I requested which included Lyme (Western Blot) which was negative. He got his in a woodsy area close to Bull Shoals Lake. I can’t believe what I just read. These ticks are everywhere! We moved here from LA and never encountered ticks like here. I got a cell phone after moving here and when I took it out of the box, it had a live tick in it! No Joke! We now treat our yard and surrounding areas and of course our pets.

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