Pediatric Lyme Disease

Avoiding infection: stick to trails or sidewalks if possible. Avoid walking through open fields or areas of tall grass, especially fields near where they meet woods. Wear socks, pants and long-sleeved shirts. Consider tucking the bottom of your pants into your socks and tuck in your shirts. Consider light colored clothes to make it easier tp spot ticks. Use insect repellent, especially on ankles and pant legs. Repellent with DEET is recommended. Inspect clothing during an outdoor excursion. After returning home, check clothing again and do a full-body inspection. If a tick is found, grasp its head with pointed tweezers and pull it off, then clean the bite area. Ticks that are removed within a few hours usually do not pass infection to the host, so act promptly and us the Tick Kits.
 
Initial symptoms of Lyme infection include a growing red rash and flue-like fatigue, fever, headache, muscle ache and swollen lymph nodes. These can appear from a few days to a month after a tick bite. Typical treatment is a regimen of antibiotics. It is effective in most people if started promptly. If not treated, patients often develop arthritis and can also suffer from serious cardiac or neurological problems. So if you even think that you got bitten by a tick, see your doctor as soon as possible and demand a blood test.

As always if you know a child that has Lyme disease and their parents need financial assistance paying for treatment and/or medication, please give me or any board member a call.
Spring is here and summer is in the way so let's review.

Thank you to all Kiwanis members and Sponsored Youth members for their assistance in raising funds through the Brittany Fellowship, Emerald Brittany, Joseph Wuest Fellowship and other different fund raisers. Without your help we could not do what we do. What we do is help kids immediately.

Also, I would like to give a special "Thank you" to Kelly Chan the Past Governor of Circle K. Through her efforts she made a lot of young people feel better. I had the honor and privilege to present her with a Brittany Fellowship Award given to her by the Pediatric Lyme Disease Foundation board members at the Circle K convention in Albany last week. Someone once said, people will never forget what you do and people will never forget what you said. But people will always remember how you made them feel. Kelly Chan has made a lot of people feel good.

Column Posted on Web Site April 20, 2014