If you're looking for a silver lining to being priced out of San Francisco, fleeing the Bay Area writ large, and taking up residence in uber-affordable Cleveland, here it is: This place is crawling with lethal blood-suckers.
A
study in the pending issue of Emerging Infectious Disease (
not a palatable journal title) reveals that researchers found ticks carrying the pathogens producing Lyme Disease in "all 12 sites from which tick sample sizes exceeded 30." This is not a comforting thought: Lyme Disease-producing beasties are widespread, and ...
tick samples exceeding 30. Egad!
If you thought it was impossible to catch Lyme Disease in California, you thought wrong. But, again going with the silver-lining motif, now some techie that priced you out of your home is gonna get it. Not you.
On the other hand, if you're decamping to the Northeast, you're heading into the belly of the Lyme beast. While infected ticks were in all 12 California parks scientists sampled, only about 2 percent of the creatures were actually carrying the key bacterium. By contrast, about 35 percent of adult ticks in the Northeast of the nation do so.
The
good folks at Stanford, where much of this research emanated, offer the following useful advice for avoiding ticks:
- Stay in the middle of trails, avoiding brush, wood piles, logs;
- Check thoroughly for ticks (especially in hair) after spending time outdoors;
- Check pets that can bring ticks indoors;
- If you develop symptoms (fever, headache, fatigue or rash), consider consulting a doctor knowledgeable about Lyme Disease.
