On Monday, March 24, 2003, at 03:10 PM, Sukie Crandall wrote:
>The reservior for the disease (which is given the very youngest ticks
>which are very tiny) is ground nesting rodents, but once they leave
>those rodents the ticks then have a host of possible hosts.  :-)  In
>my area there are over 30 potential wild hosts, and then there are the
>rest of us who aren't as wild as we used to be but can still host
>ticks now and then...
 
Maybe I phrased that info in a confusing way.  Rodents might be the most
common host, but birds are the reason it has spread so far so quickly...
faster than doctors and the CDC believed it would.  Rodents don't travel
very far during their lifetime.  Neither do deer.  Birds, however, fly
hundreds of miles during their seasonal migrations.
 
For the FHL questions lately regarding squirrels and other rodents as
carriers of disease, I can see the need for clarification.  But for the
basic question of an oddly colored sore, it's a moot point in my opinion.
The reason I chimed in was simply to warn people that Lyme disease is all
over the country, not just areas it was supposed to be "contained" a few
years ago.  Don't let the region you live in be a reason to feel safe
from such a horrible disease.  Trust me....you don't want it!
 
Thanks for the additional info, Sukie.  Since a lot of us seem to read
both lists, I can see where I should be a little more specific in the
future.  Again, to everyone reading this...take Lyme seriously.  The
ticks are tiny!  They look smaller than most freckles and are so small
that when I was covered with them, I simply scraped them off with my
fingernails.  That's undoubtedly why I ended up with the disease.  It
would be next to impossible to see the little buggers buried under a
ferret's (or dog's or cat's) fur!  Even when they are swollen with blood,
they are the size of an unfed normal tick.  Use Sukie's link below to
take all precautions!
[Posted in FML issue 4097]