Ticks are here — and Lyme isn't New Jersey's only problem

With the weather warming up ticks are becoming more numerous.

People definitely need to be concerned, said Pat Smith, the president of the Lyme Disease Association in Jackson — "and not just about Lyme disease."

"There are numerous other diseases being carried by the ticks," he said.

Lyme disease symptoms can include exhaustion, various aches and pains, swelling and stiffness of the joints and fever. If left untreated, Lyme can cause memory loss, numbness, seizures and heart problems as well.

Smith said a big part of the problem with deer ticks is their size.

“Certain stages of the deer tick are as small as a poppy seed. You can’t even often determine that these things have legs, they’re so small, and that is really why the deer tick produces the most disease — because people never see it," Smith said.

She stressed for that reason, tick checks are absolutely essential whenever you spend time outside.

“What you need to look for is a mark that looks unusual, something you’ve never seen," she said.

She pointed out a lot of people think if they bitten by a tick they’ll get a bulls-eye rash — but in reality, less than half of those bitten do.

“You may get no rash at all, or you may have a rash and you may not see it. Maybe it’s in your scalp or something like that," Smith said.

Smith said when doing an examination of yourself, you’re going to have to remove your clothing.

“You should definitely check your entire body, especially the creases and folds of your body and the hairy areas of your body," Smith said.

And if you have a dog, she said after a walk you will want to carefully check the animal from head to tail.

“If there are loose ticks on the dog that are crawling around, of course they can bring those in, and then those ticks can crawl on you," Smith said.

So how big of a problem is Lyme disease in New Jersey?

“The Centers for Disease Control has now actually come out and said that Lyme disease is now an epidemic and has been over the last 20 years.” And New Jersey ranks second in case numbers of Lyme.

Smith said according to the most recent data available from 2016, 4,350 people officially got Lyme disease in the Garden State — “which basically means that in actuality, because of under-reporting, that we probably had 43,500 cases

Pennsylvania has the most confirmed cases of Lyme in the nation.

Smith also pointed out a virus called Powassan is carried by the same tick that carries Lyme, the deer tick.

“That is serious because it actually has no treatment for the disease itself, and it has a 10 percent fatality rate," Smith said.

She said Powassan “is becoming a little more common than it was, and even if you don’t die, survivors can have a 50 percent chance of neurologic complications," Smith said.

Smith said nationally there are now 300,000 cases of Lyme disease occurring every year, and approximately 12 percent of those cases are taking place in New Jersey.

More information is available at lymediseaseassociation.org

You can contact reporter David Matthau at David.Matthau@townsquaremedia.com.