{"id":25402,"date":"2018-05-25T09:07:53","date_gmt":"2018-05-25T13:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/?p=25402"},"modified":"2018-05-25T09:07:53","modified_gmt":"2018-05-25T13:07:53","slug":"county-health-officials-warn-of-increases-in-ticks-and-lyme-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/county-health-officials-warn-of-increases-in-ticks-and-lyme-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"County Health Officials Warn of Increases in Ticks and Lyme Disease"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Ticks.jpg?ssl=1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"18590\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/county-health-officials-warn-residents-to-avoid-ticks\/ticks\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Ticks.jpg?fit=493%2C335&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"493,335\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Ticks\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Ticks.jpg?fit=300%2C204&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Ticks.jpg?fit=493%2C335&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignright wp-image-18590 \" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Ticks.jpg?resize=400%2C272&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"272\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Ticks.jpg?w=493&amp;ssl=1 493w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Ticks.jpg?resize=300%2C204&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>MAYVILLE &#8211; Chautauqua County health officials are warning the public about the increased danger of <strong>ticks<\/strong> carrying <strong>Lyme disease<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>According to a release sent out Thursday, tick populations are growing in the County and the percentage of ticks that are infected with the bacteria that causes Lyme disease is also increasing.<\/p>\n<p>As a result the <strong>Chautauqua County Department of Health and Human Services<\/strong> is advising residents and visitors to prevent tick bites, check for and properly remove ticks, and understand the symptoms for Lyme disease.<\/p>\n<p>Lyme disease is spread to humans through the bite of an infected blacklegged tick, also known as a \u201cdeer tick.\u201d \u00a0It is spread when an infected tick bites a person and remains attached for 36 hours or more.<\/p>\n<p>Results from 2017 testing by state health officials showed that in specific areas of Chautauqua County, the rate of ticks infected with Lyme disease bacteria is as high as 54 percent. In some cases, the percentage of ticks that tested positive for the bacteria doubled in just one year.<\/p>\n<p>County Director of Environmental Health Services <strong>Mark Stow<\/strong> says the risk of human infection is greatest in late spring and summer, due to the blacklegged tick\u2019s life cycle. He adds that tick populations vary widely with some areas teaming with ticks while other areas have virtually no ticks.<\/p>\n<p>Your best protection against Lyme disease is to avoid contact with ticks by avoiding soil, leaf litter and vegetation. However, if you garden, hike, camp, hunt, work or otherwise spend time in the outdoors, you can still protect yourself:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wear light-colored clothing with a tight weave to spot ticks easily.<\/li>\n<li>Wear enclosed shoes, long pants and a long-sleeved shirt. Tuck pant legs into socks or boots and shirts into pants.<\/li>\n<li>Check clothes and any exposed skin frequently for ticks while outdoors.<\/li>\n<li>Consider using insect repellent that contains DEET, picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus. Follow the label directions when using repellents and apply in small amounts, avoiding contact with the eyes, nose or mouth. For more information on repellents visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.health.ny.gov\/publications\/2749\/\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/www.health.ny.gov\/publications\/2749\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1527339809699000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGEPnOrh253NKW5nFB65WGvV7-kIw\">https:\/\/www.health.ny.gov\/publications\/2749\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Stay on cleared, well-traveled trails. Walk in the center of trails. Avoid dense woods and bushy areas.<\/li>\n<li>Avoid sitting directly on the ground or on stone walls.<\/li>\n<li>Keep long hair tied back, especially when gardening.<\/li>\n<li>Bathe or shower as soon as possible after going indoors (preferably <span data-term=\"goog_648177064\">within two hours<\/span>) to wash off and more easily find ticks that may be on you.<\/li>\n<li>Do a final, full-body tick check at the end of the day (also check children and pets), and remove ticks promptly. Be aware that a nymphal deer ticks is about the size of a poppyseed, and an adult is roughly the size of a sesame seed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For more information, including how to safelty remove ticks, go to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.health.ny.gov\">www.health.ny.gov<\/a> \u00a0or contact the Environmental Health Division at 1-800-604-6789.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MAYVILLE &#8211; Chautauqua County health officials are warning the public about the increased danger of ticks carrying Lyme disease. According to a release sent out Thursday, tick populations are growing in the County and the percentage of ticks that are infected with the bacteria that causes Lyme disease is also increasing. As a result the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":18590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[4],"tags":[3314,4005,4183,4006],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Ticks.jpg?fit=493%2C335&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3YlJ4-6BI","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25402"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25403,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25402\/revisions\/25403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}