Part of living on the road is dealing with bugs and other critters.  We’ve had our fair share of spider bites, mosquito bites and ticks.  Just a normal day for a couple of adventurous little boys.   Not a big deal, at least not until now.  A week ago our oldest son came to me with a tick in his belly button that had been there for a while (he didn’t know how long – he hadn’t noticed it).  The day after it was removed he developed a rash.  The rash bothered me, so I took him to the doctor.  The doctor asked if he had experienced bad headaches, muscle aches, nausea, or loss of appetite.  He hadn’t, but the doctor decided to draw some blood and check for Lyme disease anyway, given that we had been traveling through Indiana, Illinois and Missouri recently.  The test came back negative, but two days later he had the chills, fever, headaches, muscle aches.  Now I was worried.  In the end, after a recheck, we got a prescription for Lyme disease.  We were fortunate to be able to fill the prescription at a Schnucks pharmacy.  For people who may not know, Schnucks has a Free Prescription Drug Program for generic oral antibiotics that includes up to a 21 day supply as well as refills of the following seven antibiotics:  Amoxicillin, Ampicillin, Ciprofloxacin (Generic for CIPRO), Doxycycline, Erythromycin, Penicillin, and Trimeth/Sulfa (Generic for SEPTRA or BACTRIM).  To find a Schnucks pharmacy near you, click here.

Lyme disease was first recognized in the United States in 1975 by Dr. Allen Steere, following a mysterious outbreak of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis near the community of Lyme, Connecticut.  That’s where it got its name.  The number of reported cases are now on the rise.  Lyme disease that goes undiagnosed and untreated may lead to varying degrees of permanent damage to joints or the nervous system.  This is not something to take lightly.  Here are some recommendations from the CDC for tick prevention:

·         Wear light-colored clothing so that ticks can be spotted more easily. Tuck pant legs into socks or boots and shirt into pants or ape the area where pants and socks meet so that ticks cannot crawl under clothing.

·         Spray insect repellent containing DEET on clothes and on exposed skin other than the face, or treat clothes (especially pants, socks, and shoes) with permethrin, which kills ticks on contact.

·         Wear a hat and a long-sleeved shirt for added protection.

·         Walk in the center of trails to avoid overhanging grass and brush.

·         After being outdoors, remove clothing and wash and dry it at a high temperature; inspect body carefully and remove attached ticks with tweezers, grasping the tick as close to the skin surface as possible and pulling straight back with a slow steady force; avoid crushing the tick's body. In some areas, ticks (saved in a sealed container) can be submitted to the local health department for identification.

·         Preventive antibiotic treatment with erythromycin or doxycycline to prevent Lyme disease after a known tick bite may be warranted.

·         Personal protective measures, such as repellent use and routine tick checks, are key components of primary prevention.