MEDFORD, OREGON - As the Pacific Northwest enjoys summer, everyone comes outside, and that means little ticks too. The Centers For Disease Control (CDC) reported in 2002 nearly 24,000 cases of Lyme disease nationally, up 40 percent from the previous year. Jackson and Josephine counties continue to lead Oregon in west coast cases of Lyme disease.

Named for the town of Lyme, Connecticut where the disease was discovered in the late 1970's, Lyme disease is now found in 49 states and the District of Columbia. The Oregon Lyme Disease Network, started in 2003 (www.junipermeadow.com/lyme/) reports that Lyme disease is the leading cause of vector-borne infectious illness in the United States.

Carol Knapp, Jackson County Health Department Communicable Disease nurse says, "We have one case this year. We had one case in 2003 and one in 2002. But many times clinicians don't report Lyme disease."

According to the most current data, Jackson and Josephine counties combined have had an average only five cases a year. At the beginning of July statewide there were 17 reported cases of Lyme disease, up from eight cases at the same time last year.

How does a person get this disease? Well, Lyme disease is caused by an old bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi that lives in the Black-legged tick, Ixodes pacificus, and the Deer tick, Ixodes scapularis. Experts still don't understand how these ticks lives their complicated life cycles - in other hosts like deer and mice - and then on people. What is clear is that avoiding tick bites can help you avoid the disease.

Knapp says the best way to avoid ticks is "with good protection. Wear long sleeves when heading outside. Wear light-colored clothes so that you can see the tick more easily. The longer the tick is attached, the more likely that it can spread disease. When you come in from outside, check yourself for ticks. Check around waistbands, leg bands in underwear, where cuffs are, and around hairlines."

"Wearing tick repellant on your clothing can help too. DEET (N, N diethyl-m-toluamide, an insect repellent developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1946) can be applied to the skin or permethrin (kills ticks on contact) to your clothing," says Knapp. Ticks live on moist grasses hoping to get a ride on some animal. It's a good idea to wear boots and tuck your pants into them.

Prompt tick removal can reduce your chances of getting Lyme disease or other tick-borne illnesses like Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Human Granulocytic Ehrlichiosis (HGE). The Jackson County Vector Control District at 555 Mosquito Lane in Central Point, 779-6460, offers free Lyme disease brochures, posters, tick ID cards and handy tick removers.

And, if you do get a tick bite, carefully remove it, save it, and take it to Vector Control for a free-to-you Lyme disease screening. You can remove a tick safely with a tick remover or a credit card. Using the side of the card, scrape and push the tick off. Using this method, instead of tweezers, you're more likely to get the head (and mouth) out.

So far in 2004, Vector Control sent the 38 suspect ticks (including one from my husband) to the Public Health lab and none have turned up positive for Lyme disease. In Jackson County, usually about three percent of the ticks test positive for the disease.

Just what is Lyme disease? Well, I can tell you from first hand knowledge. After an infected tick bite (In my case, hiking in Maine), about half the victims develop a bulls-eye shaped rash (I never saw a rash.). About 5 months after the bite, I developed persistent flu symptoms (But I had been stressed-out). My head and joints ached. I was tired and listless and ran a fever of 101 degrees for weeks (I was still hungry though, darn it.). Once my doctor isolated the illness (If the first test, a blood test for antibodies, comes back positive, they do another test, a Western blot). She prescribed a whole month of antibiotics. It took about 6 months to feel recovered, but I have had one relapse.

Avoid coming into contact with ticks. Keep them off your animals too. Check each other for ticks when you come in for the day. If Lyme disease is left untreated it causes nervous-system disorders, arthritis, heart trouble and severe headaches. It can cause lifelong illness and very rarely, death.

For more information, check these websites:

http://www.jacksoncountyvectorcontrol.org/ticklyme.shtml

http://www.niaid.nih.gov/publications/tick.htm

http://www.dhs.state.or.us/publichealth/acd/lyme/index.cfm

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/

http://www.lymenet.org/