Growing Risk in MN: Ticks And Mosquitoes Pose Health Threats

IT'S GETTING CLOSER TO HOME

Tick and mosquito season is here, and the Center for Disease Control & Prevention issued an alert recently, about the first case of Malaria in the US that was acquired locally; meaning, it wasn't caused by traveling overseas; it was detected in both Florida and Texas, but the two cases do not seem to be related.

WEST NILE VIRUS SYMPTOMS

Although the risk of contracting Malaria is fairly low in the United States, mosquitoes can transmit West Nile Virus, which can cause the following:

WHAT ABOUT 'NO SYMPTOMS?"

Having NO symptoms can probably be the worst thing that can happen.  The diseases caused by ticks and mosquitoes can cause a person some serious damage.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Ticks are typically the worst from late May to early July and experts say that tick populations are expanding into cities over the last few years. Ticks can cause Lyme disease, and about 476,000 people each year can get it, according to the CDC, as the temperatures rise due to climate change, the threat from mosquitoes and ticks will become less and less seasonal.

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TRIED AND TRUE METHODS OF PROTECTION

The tried and true methods of protecting yourself from illnesses caused by these intruders are still as follows:

• Wear bug spray
• Wear long-sleeved clothing outside
• Try to eliminate any standing or stagnant water in or around your property.

Lyme's Disease is having an uptick in states in the north as well. “The increasing cases are usually in new regions that didn’t have it before, so we see in Maine, Ohio and Michigan, a lot of Northern states, it’s increasing a lot,” Maria Diuk-Wasser, a professor at Columbia University said. “We are all reporting a very high year.”