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Pest Management Priducts Division of CSPA
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Human Granulocytic Ehrlichiosis - Human Granulocytic Ehrilichiosis, a particularly severe disease transmitted by the deer tick in the same regions as Lyme Disease, have been reported primarily in the South Central and South Atlantic states- particularly in Oklahoma, Missouri, and Georgia. Since 1986 to 1996, the CDC recorded 320 cases.
Symptoms are similar to those of Lyme Disease and include rash, fatigue, neck stiffness, muscle aches and flu-like symptoms such as headaches, chills, fever, dizziness, sore throat, cough, hoarseness and sleep disturbances. Symptoms show about a week after a tick bite.
Treatment generally requires hospitalization and antibiotics administered by a physician to cure the disease and prevent serious complications. Without treatment, it can cause overwhelming infection, toxic shock and death. Death occurs in 5% of cases.
Babesiosis - An emerging disease in the U.S. that is often mistaken for malaria, Babesiosis is transmitted by the deer tick. It can cause serious, even life-threatening illness, and is occasionally fatal.
Most cases occur in New England and New York, but since 1990, cases have been reported in Wisconsin and Minnesota. From 1967 to 1996, the CDC recorded about 450 cases, mostly among older individuals.
Symptoms, which may appear one to three weeks after a bite, include flu-like fatigue, loss of appetite, fever, drenching sweats, general achiness and headache. Illness can range from mild infection to severe hemolytic anemia, renal failure and severe hypertension. Treatment is with antibiotics under a physician's supervision.
Rocky Mountain Spotted fever - Transmitted by many species of ticks, including dog ticks, brown dog ticks and wood ticks (all larger than the deer tick and easier to spot) Rocky Mountain spotted fever is now a misnomer since it occurs in almost every state in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Central and South America.
Rocky Mountain spotted fever was first reconfirmed in 1896 in the Snake River Valley of Idaho and was originally called "black measles" because of the characteristic rash. By the early 1900s, the disease spread to parts of the United States as far north as Washington and Montana and as far south as California, Arizona, and New Mexico.
The highest incidence of Rocky Mountain spotted fever is among children five to nine years old. In 1997, 831 cases over all ages were reported to the CDC. In the last three decades, more than 22,000 cases have been recorded.
