Lyme's Disease

In a discussion with public lands consultant and free Lance writer Andy Rieber, I learned about the perils and tragedy of Lyme's disease and thought I would pass it along to all you outdoorsman so that you can protect yourself. "I contracted Lyme's disease by a tick bite 14 years ago. For the record Lyme's disease is the most prevalent and fastest-growing vector borne disease in this country which means a disease that is spread by insects. You can definitely get Lyme's disease in the wilderness but also, any place where there is a prevalence of deer or rodents which are reservoirs for the infection. The thing to keep in mind is the black leg ticks that transmit Lyme's disease are very small. The adults are the size of a sesame seed. So they are very hard to spot and obviously ticks can get into places like your hair where you don't see them. I never saw a tick and that is one of the reasons why a lot of people end up having Lyme's disease and not knowing what they have for a long time. Lyme's disease is actually quite easy to treat within the first couple of weeks within which you contracted. People lose the opportunity to treated at that time and can go months or even years without a proper diagnosis. At that point it becomes a very difficult to treat chronic condition.