Mini- menace

Recently we travelled into Virginia backwoods and in a small town rest stop spied an article in a free newspaper about ticks, labelled as a mini menace. Some basics came from a Dr Richard Marconi, an epidemiologist at Virginia Commonwealth University. Ticks are transported from place to place by small mammals and deer. Then they wait on leaves and grass for you to come. They are attracted to the CO2 (carbon dioxide) of our breath as we exhale! Virginia is now one of the 14 leading states where the ticks are biting.

You can be bitten and not feel anything. They are very tiny but with close inspection you may see one stuck on you. You should remove it with tweezers and pull it out completely. Every bite does not give Lyme disease. Medical folks test when there is a red splotch “bulls eye” left on the skin, or when the tick has been stuck there for 24 hours, or when symptoms are reported. But symptoms don’t usually appear, the article stated, for 5 to 14 days. People may attribute symptoms to something else and never get tested.

It was during this lockdown time my husband and I went into Virginia backwoods. I was wearing long pants with socks pulled up over the pants edge. I had brought a spray I made with oil of oregano and water, tweezers, and tea tree oil to apply if bitten. I asked a woman I met if she wanted me to spray some oil of oregano on her. She was wearing wearing thongs on
her feet, shorts, and a sleeveless top. She said she had already had an “absolutely horrible time with Lyme disease” which lasted for months. She didn’t take me up on my offer. Seems she doesn’t like the smell of oregano. I didn’t take any lemon eucalyptus with me that day. The small town newspaper also suggested that for prevention.

(Also see entry, “Good possums” 5/22/20.)