As of 4:30 p.m. Monday, David Williams, a PA at the emergency room in Ellenville, says he’d already seen half a dozen patients for concerns about Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses.
“We’re not even halfway done with our shift yet," he says.
Emergency Department Manager Martha Towala says summer is always a big time for ticks, but the region’s heavy rains have kept the grass lush and damp, just what ticks like. As a result, she says the emergency room is busier, and tests are delayed.
“We have been receiving word from LabCorp that, where their turnaround rate would normally be three days to get test results of this nature, they have seen an influx throughout our area [that means] our current turnaround rate for results is about seven days," Towala explains.
LabCorp did not return a request for comment.
Not all tick bites will make you sick, but ticks can carry viruses that cause Lyme Disease, anaplasmosis, Powassan disease, and more. The Catskills and the Hudson Valley are both considered “high risk” for infected deer ticks, according to the New York State Department of Health. State officials say an average of 9,000 Lyme Disease cases are reported across New York each year.
Williams says Ellenville is seeing a roughly equal number of Lyme disease and anaplasmosis cases.
"Unlike Lyme disease, anaplasmosis makes your white [blood cell] counts go down low, and your platelet counts down low," he explains. "It makes you immunoincompetent, almost, so to speak."
Lisa Lahiff, deputy commissioner of the Orange County Department of Health, says the Hudson Valley doesn’t have a strict “tick season” anymore, especially in years with mild winters. To reduce your risk of getting bit, she recommends avoiding tall grass (and for property owners: keep your lawns short) and sticking to the middle of a trail while hiking.
You can use insect repellant that contains DEET to keep the bugs away. Better yet, she recommends wearing long-sleeved clothing, with your pant legs tucked into your socks.
"When you do come in from outside, check yourself for ticks," she advises. "Ticks love to hide out in your hair or on your scalp, under your arms, maybe inside your belly button, around your waist, the back of the knee — anywhere where it's sort of dark and a little bit wet, that's where they like to be."
Lahiff says light-colored clothing is easier to spot ticks on. If you notice a tick on your clothes, Lahiff recommends throwing them in a hot dryer before washing. This should kill any ticks.
If you find a tick on your skin, and it hasn’t bitten you yet, Lahiff says you can simply remove it with a tissue. If it has bitten you, Lahiff says it’s time to break out the tweezers.
“You want to grasp the tick as close to your skin and its mouth parts as possible. You don’t want to pull the tick from the body," says Lahiff. "You want to pull the tick in a steady upward motion away from the skin.”
Lahiff doesn’t recommend squishing ticks, as the dead bug juice can still infect you if it gets into any cuts or bites on your body.
From there, Towala says to contact your doctor and monitor yourself for Lyme disease symptoms, which can include skin rashes, fever, chills, headache, fatigue, and muscle and joint pain. Lahiff says you should record the date when you were bit, as some symptoms can take weeks or months to develop.
Towala notes patients do not need to bring the tick with them if they go to Ellenville Regional Hospital (nowadays, they test patients for the disease, not the bugs). She says a doctor may prescribe an antibiotic treatment like doxycycline, which can be helpful in preventing serious illness from Lyme disease and anaplasmosis, if it’s caught early enough.
"While we encourage everybody to finish out the course treatment, it may lie dormant depending on your immune system and how seriously this disease progressed into your body," Towala warns.
Overall, Towala says residents should get in the habit of checking themselves — and their kids, and their pets — regularly for ticks when they’re outside. The sooner you can remove any ticks, the better.
“Pay attention to your body," says Towala. "If you see a tick and you remove it, keep an eye on that area. If you start experiencing joint pain, fatigue, night sweats that aren’t really related to anything else, definitely seek medical advice.”
