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Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission seeking tax revenue to cover cost

Letter to the editor: Neighbor lauded for compassion toward cats

For Pennsylvanians who venture into forests and fields, here&#8217;s cautionary advice that you shouldn&#8217;t just brush off.Beware the blacklegged tick.The little buggers &#8211; responsible for spreading Lyme disease bacteria and its associated suffering in people who don&#8217;t receive timely treatment &#8211; now range across all of Pennsylvania&#8217;s 67 counties, posing a still-emerging public health problem. Some observers, including U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, believe more should be done to track the ticks&#8217; progression and amplify prevention messages.Antibiotics successfully treat early-stage cases. But if misdiagnosed or ignored, the disease eventually can cause arthritis and joint troubles, as well as infections of the nervous system and heart. Some people develop a chronic condition.&#8220;Lyme disease is the nation&#8217;s fastest growing vector-borne illness, but little is spent tracking the vector,&#8221; the Chambersburg newspaper, the Public Opinion, reported this week. &#8220;In contrast, the state gives more than $2 million a year to counties for tracking West Nile virus in mosquito populations.&#8221;The article further pointed out that about a dozen state residents contracted West Nile in each of the past two years, while in 2013 confirmed Lyme disease cases in the Keystone State tallied nearly 5,000.That&#8217;s not to say the decades-long tick uptick has gone unnoticed. Hunters, hikers and others who frequent the woodsy habitats where the bloodsuckers thrive &#8211; attaching themselves to hosts such as rodents and deer &#8211; have long followed preventive protocols. Among them: tuck pant legs into socks, apply DEET-containing insect repellents, shower soon after exiting the woods and inspect for and remove any hitchhiking ticks.Last year, Pennsylvania created a Lyme Disease Task Force. It operates under the state Department of Health and is expected this summer to release some of its initial surveillance data.Meanwhile, groups including the Lyme Disease Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania, based in Chester County, offer support to sufferers and access to the latest medical news. Plus, they help to tout May as Lyme Awareness Month. Activities occurring in this region include a conference Saturday at Binghamton University, co-sponsored by Southern Tier Lyme Support, an organization serving residents of southern New York State and Northeastern Pennsylvania.Don&#8217;t let concern about Lyme disease ruin your warm-weather fun. But take safeguards such as removing leaf litter and tall grass from your property, and becoming familiar with early disease symptoms (which can include a bull&#8217;s-eye rash and flu-like conditions). Also, keep perspective: Not all ticks are the blacklegged variety, and of those that are, not all carry the bacteria.Learn more at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website: www.cdc.gov/lyme.

Our Opinion: Be wary of woodland ticks to avoid Lyme disease exposure