Ticks and mosquitoes: staying safe

• The Asian tiger mosquito is sickening thousands in the Caribbean by spreading the Chikungunya virus.
• While no cases of Chikungunya have been confirmed on the U.S. mainland%2C officials are concerned.
• Eliminate breeding grounds for mosquitoes on your property by not allowing water to collect.
• Deer ticks can transmit five illnesses in the Lower Hudson Valley%2C including Lyme disease.

Spring is in full bloom — and so are its pests.

But while buzzing flies and wayward hornets can ruin a backyard barbecue, mosquitoes and ticks can make people sick. The Asian tiger mosquito — an aggressive daytime biter found in the Lower Hudson Valley since 2002 — is sickening thousands of people in the Caribbean by spreading the Chikungunya virus, which causes a flu-like illness with severe joint pain.

There have been no confirmed cases of Chikungunya on the U.S. mainland, but federal health officials say the high number of travelers to the Caribbean means that could change as early as this summer. Locally, health officials are focusing on prevention, distributing larvicide to kill mosquitoes during their larval stage and educating the public to help eliminate water sources in which they breed.

Local health departments are also combating the common house mosquito, which in the past has been found to carry the West Nile virus.

And there is continued concern about the deer tick, which is largely responsible for the sharp increase in bug-borne illnesses in the region. In late spring and early summer, that tick is as tiny as a poppy seed — and found everywhere from hiking trails to golf courses.

"You have to appreciate the risk, and the risk is significant in this entire area," said Dr. Kenneth Liegner of Pawling, whose practice is devoted to patients with tick-borne illnesses. "If you are going to be engaging in outdoor activities, it's prudent that you take reasonable measures to protect yourself."

Liegner's personal arsenal includes knee-high boots sprayed with diluted Permethrin, a chemical that can kill ticks. "If you have to venture out into tick habitat, my feeling is you have to regard yourself as entering a battlefield," he said.

If a tick is found on the body, it's important to remove it quickly, to prevent transmission of Lyme and other illnesses. The deer tick is currently associated with five diseases (see box) in the Lower Hudson Valley, said Dr. Gary Wormser, chief of infectious diseases at New York Medical College in Valhalla.

Symptoms of tick-borne illnesses often overlap. "If you have a fever during the summer or don't feel well, keep in mind that it could be a tick-borne disease, among other things," he said. Treatment often consists of antibiotics.

When it comes to mosquitoes, there are about 40 species found locally, said Rich Falco, regional medical entomologist for the New York State Department of Health.

A big concern remains the West Nile virus. According to the CDC, the majority of people who get West Nile have no symptoms; about 1 in 5 get a fever with other symptoms, and less than 1 percent develop encephalitis or meningitis.

At the Louis Calder Center in Armonk — home to the Fordham University Vector Ecology Laboratory and the New York State Regional Medical Entomology Laboratory — Falco and research scientist Tom Daniels spend their days studying the ecology and epidemiology of diseases spread by ticks and mosquitoes.

Daniels maintains a tick index on Fordham University's website that helps people estimate their risk, throughout the season, of being bitten.

"It does seem that we've got cases of diseases that probably weren't here before, but we also are much better at finding these things," he said. Newer laboratory techniques are helping researchers discover hundreds of types of bacteria in the deer tick, and climate change appears to be having an impact as well.

Among ticks, Daniels said that 25 percent of the nymphs can transmit Lyme, as can between 40 percent and 45 percent of adults. But it's the nymphs, which are harder to detect on the body, that cause more than 90 percent of the cases of Lyme. Infection rates are lower for the other tick-transmitted diseases.

Wormser oversees New York Medical College's Lyme Disease Diagnostic Center, a walk-in clinic that opens for the season in June. It is important to remember that tick-borne diseases are possible among people who have no memory of being bitten, he said, or those who don't notice the typical Lyme-disease rash. Consult your doctor if in doubt.

While the Asian tiger mosquito hasn't yet transmitted serious illnesses in the Lower Hudson Valley, along with Chikungunya virus it is capable of spreading West Nile and Dengue fever, said Falco.

Falco and Daniels are working with the Rockland and Westchester health departments on the Asian Tiger Mosquito Project, studying the insect's ecology and distribution in the Lower Hudson Valley.

The goal of the research is to better understand the species in order toreduce its potential threat to public health.

"It's nothing to panic over, but it's something we have to be aware of," said Falco. "Down the road, physicians need to be looking out for these exotic viruses, health departments need to be aware, and the public needs to practice good mosquito-prevention habits."

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Twitter: @LindaLombroso

By the numbers

Percentage increase from 2012 to 2013 of tick-borne illnesses in New York State (excluding New York City)

Babesiosis:

103%

Anaplasmosis:

44%

Lyme disease:

28%

Source: New York State

Department of Health

How to protect yourself

Preventing tick bites

• Tuck pants into socks or boots, and shirts into pants.

• Consider using insect repellent on exposed skin, except for the hands and face.

• Shower following outdoor activities.

• Do a full-body tick check every 24 hours, and remove ticks promptly with a set of fine-tipped tweezers.

Controlling mosquitoes

• Eliminate sources of standing water. Empty gutters, turn over wheelbarrows, and check that water is not collecting in bird baths, spare tires, unused pools and drip trays under flowerpots. Even bottlecaps can serve as breeding areas.

• Local health departments offer various programs to help homeowners combat and control mosquitoes.

Learn more

• Westchester County Department of Health: 914-813-5000, www.health. westchestergov.com

• Rockland County Department of Health: 845-364-2512, www.rocklandgov. com/departments/health

• Putnam County Department of Health: 845-808-1390, www.putnamcountyny.com/health

• New York State Department of Health: www.health.ny.gov

5 diseases transmitted by deer ticks

Lyme disease: Early symptoms can include a bull's-eye rash that appears three days to one month after a bite, joint pain, chills, fever and fatigue. More serious symptoms may include numbness in the arms or legs, joint swelling and pain, and problems with heart and central nervous system.

Babesiosis: Flu-like symptoms, which tend to be more severe in adults over 50, can appear from one to eight weeks after a tick bite. Complications can include a form of anemia.

Human granulocytic anaplasmosis: Symptoms, also more severe in older people, generally appear one to three weeks after a bite and may include fever, weakness, headache and muscle aches. Confusion, nausea, and joint pain are also possible.

Deer tick virus (a subtype of Powassan): Rare, but can cause encephalitis and meningitis. According to studies done by Rick Ostfeld of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, the fatality rate is 10 to 15 percent among reported cases.

Borrelia miyamotoi: A newly emerging tick-borne bacterial illness that can cause high fever.