Health: Tick season brings renewed Lyme Disease concerns

WOODBURY, Vt. -

An increasing amount of Lyme Disease cases has the Health Department warning Vermonters to protect themselves.

Zachary Kirkpatrick of Woodbury- used to consider himself an adventurer. He spent a lot of time outdoors, but now says those days are long gone.  "I'm pretty much disabled. I'm in my 30s. That's really hard," Kirkpatrick said.

A few years ago the small business owner was diagnosed with Lyme Disease. "I wake up and I'm exhausted. I don't sleep much either because my body is just -- I'm always in pain," he said.

And as the weather slowly starting warms up, ticks that carry the bacterial infection are coming back. "Spring is the worst time because the nymphs come out, and the nymphs versus an adult are very small, and they can bite you, but they are just much, much harder to see," said Dr. Christopher Grace, an Infectious Disease Specialist at the University of Vermont Medical Center.

Grace says Lyme Disease continues to become more prevalent in our region, so it's important to cover up using deet-based insect repellant.  He says that if you go in a wooded area you should look and feel for ticks once you come inside. If you find one, don't panic. He says properly removing a tick can reduce your chance of getting Lyme disease. "You need to sort of grasp at the mouth parts and pull. You shouldn't squeeze the bug because you will push the infected blood back into you," he said.

According to the Vermont Health Department the state had 13 cases in 1990.  In 2015 there were 491-- the highest number of infections any U.S. state reported that year.

Bradley Tompkins, an epidemiologist with the Health Department, says the increase may partly be from more awareness, and also from reforestation. "When colonists came in and deforested this part of the country--pushed the ticks back to the coast. We've now let the forest come back and the deer population get higher, and probably just allowed them to repopulate an area they were already in before," Tompkins said. He says the infection can be cured if it's caught in it's beginning stages. "We want people to monitor their health for things like a rash at the site of the tick bite or in other parts of your body -- a fever, headache, joint ache, fatigue." The Health Department says to contact your doctor if you experience any of these symptoms. 

Kirkpatrick didn't know that he had Lyme Disease for five years, so he wasn't treated right away.  He says he often felt sick, but delayed going to the doctor.   Even though he was eventually treated for Lyme Disease, his symptoms continued to worsen. "I can't do anything. Most of my day is spent in my chair here," he said. "You've got to watch out for the signs. I can't even tell you how important it is."