New tick disease a concern in NC PA.

[afishinado]

New and very serious ("deadly") tick virus found at Fisherman's Paradise among other places >

‘Rare but dangerous’ deer tick virus found at elevated levels in more Pa. locations

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection surveillance program finds additional areas with exceptionally high rates of infection of potentially deadly disease.

www.pennlive.com

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Digging around a bit further than the local reports, if there is "good news" here, it SEEMS that infected ticks do not infect humans very easily? That is what I'm gathering.

 

[Tabasco-Joe]

Insect shield hides what chemical they use and what application methods. I am highly suspicious of the 70 wash claims.

Also I have heard from multiple sources that the chemical composition of permethrin concentrate available to the public at TSC is different than what sawyers use and may not adhere very well to some materials used in clothing.

The permethrin isn't different.
The Tractor Supply and feed store concentrates have an additive to help it stick to animal hair better.
It's a petrochemical. Very slightly oily.
My experience is it sticks better to cotton material.
BTW, I used to own a horse, and we used the concentrate in summer to keep the fly bites down.

 

[Tabasco-Joe]

Digging around a bit further than the local reports, if there is "good news" here, it SEEMS that infected ticks do not infect humans very easily? That is what I'm gathering.

I'm reading the opposite.
Some of these new, more serious tick borne diseases can be transmitted quicker than Lyme Disease.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

I'm reading the opposite.
Some of these new, more serious tick borne diseases can be transmitted quicker than Lyme Disease.

I think what you may mean is the time that an infected tick, who is attached to you, could potentially spread the disease. Some say in as little as 15 minutes, for example. So that's the scenario of if an infected tick gets on you, bites you, and IS able to transmit.

I'm talking about the transmissibility of the virus itself from tick host to human. The reason why we don't see more cases, for example, is either because the vast majority are asymptomatic or mild (man...this sounds familiar!) or because most ticks who are infected can't actually transmit the virus to people.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Also, DTV is an RNA virus. My guess is, these surveys detect the RNA of the virus. That tells us nothing, ultimately, other than the fact that the tick has RNA traces of the virus. It doesn't tell us if it's living and active virus, it doesn't tell us if it's actual transmissible virus.

See, we learned some things through the pandemic about virology!

 

[Swattie87]

By far, the most dangerous non-human animal in the PA woods.

Give me a rattler, bear, mountain lion, Squatch, whatever, any day before another tick bite.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

I ain't arguing that point! I just want to try and be a little optimistic before we all get freaked out to go into the woods.

 

[Fly-Swatter]

Ticks were out today. I had one crawling on my hand and found one on my mutt.