Summer season is a perfect season for outdoor activities like hiking or camping. We’re at the best mood when we want to enjoy such activities unaware of the tiny insects that are waiting in woody areas. When we plan for camping, we want make most of it and no one wants to end up the short trip falling sick. However, you should be aware of some things before you enter in woody areas. What is that we’re talking about, let’s see.
Ticks are usually found in thick, woody and heath areas. These ticks are so tiny that you might not see them. They feed themselves on the blood of birds, mammals including humans. These ticks carry bacteria that cause Lyme disease in humans. These ticks can be found in UK, large areas of Europe and Asia and North America.
Lyme disease can be treated effectively if diagnosed early otherwise it can cause severe symptoms. At the early stage of Lyme disease, you can develop a circular rash after the tick bite. The rash usually appears around 3 to 30 days after the tick has bitten. The rash looks like a bull’s eye on a dart board. The skin turns red and the edges of the skin are slightly raised. The rash expands significantly over several days or weeks. You’ll experience flu-like symptoms such as tiredness, muscle and joints ache, headaches, chills and neck stiffness and a high fever.
If left untreated the symptoms may become severe such as pain and swelling of the joints, paralysis of your facial muscles, inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord including serious heart complications. Thus, one need to be very careful once you see the rash, immediately seek medical help.
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection and thus, your physician will advise taking a course of antibiotics and he’ll prescribe Doxycycline capsules to treat the infection. Doxycycline is used to treat a variety of bacterial infections including severe diseases like Lyme disease and malaria. The capsule kills the bacteria or prevents bacteria from multiplying and spreading in the body.
The antibiotics need to be taken as prescribed even though the symptoms have reduced at a certain extent.
Usually, people who lot of spend time in woodland or heath areas are more likely at risk of developing Lyme disease. So be extremely careful before you step in woody parts of the continents such as Europe, UK, America and Asia. Most tick bites occur in early summer and autumn and late spring. So plan your trips accordingly to avoid tick bites. You can carry necessary medications along with you after consulting with your doctor.
The best way to prevent insect bite is using insect repellent on exposed skin. Wear clothes that cover maximum parts of your body. Wearing light, colored clothes will help you to quickly spot a tick on your clothes.
Taking such precautionary measures will help you to enjoy the most part of your camping or hiking.