Outdoor Athletes Should Be Vigilant About Lyme Disease

If you’re an outdoor sports enthusiast, summer is a great time to explore nature with trail running, canoeing, and hiking. However, these activities may put you in touch with infected deer ticks who are carrying Lyme disease.

Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium transmitted through the bite of an infected tick. If caught early on, the disease can be successfully treated with antibiotics, but when Lyme disease goes misdiagnosed or undiagnosed, it can lead to late-stage symptoms such as arthritis and partial facial paralysis.

Practice Prevention

To avoid exposure to deer ticks, the CDC recommends that people stay on cleared trails, use insect repellent and tuck their pant legs into their socks to keep ticks on the outside of clothing. Those who frequent the outdoors should check themselves thoroughly when they come back inside, and heat-dry their laundry. If an attached tick is found, it should be removed by grabbing it close to the mouth with tweezers and pulling it straight out.

People go out all the time and don’t even check for ticks, but just keeping it on your radar could make a huge difference in the case of a possible diagnosis.

If you do find you’ve been bitten by a deer tick, remove it immediately and if you start to have any symptoms, think about Lyme. Don’t let it go on for months. Go see a doctor and get antibiotic treatment as soon as possible.