The many tick-borne diseases NJ needs to know about this summer

We think of ticks as causing Lyme disease and they do. It can be devastating. "Lucky" victims can get a tell-take bullseye skin rash along with fever, headache and exhaustion but then can recover with treatment.

However, left undetected or misdiagnosed and untreated, Lyme disease can cause joint pain, nerve problems, heart damage and problems with memory and concentration. Some of these can be permanent.

So when it’s summer, it’s natural to think about Lyme disease first when you think about ticks.

We hear the expert advice all the time. Tuck your pant legs inside your socks to leave no means for ticks to get on your skin. Do a full body check when you come in from a hike in the woods. But how many really do this?

And it doesn’t always have to be in woods or tall grass. I was shocked to be in an emergency room a few weeks ago with my daughter when on her gurney I saw a small bug and on further inspection discovered it was a tick. In a hospital. You just never know.

So while Lyme is the first thing you think of when worried about a tick latching onto you, there are many other diseases they can gift you.

Most of the following list have been known to happen right here in New Jersey. In fact, the very rare tularemia was last reported in 2018 and guess where? Yep. The Garden State. Lucky us.

Even rare diseases that are tick-borne can be extremely serious.

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever by name doesn’t sound like it would show up in New Jersey but we have an average of 10 confirmed cases per year here. In untreated cases fatality rates of RMSF can reach 20%.

So whether you spend your whole summer here or might be traveling to a state where some of these are even more prevalent it’s important to be aware of the many ways in which ticks can harm you.

Here’s a list of 11 common tick-borne diseases, how they affect you, and what to watch out for.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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