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Tick season is upon us, and in an effort to educate the community on the risks of tick-borne diseases, the 86th Aerospace Medicine Squadron public health flight here has been working with the U.S. Army Public Health Command Region-Europe to conduct surveillance in the area.
“Part of our responsibility in the public health flight is surveillance for arthropod vectors, arthropods that potentially transmit diseases to humans,” said Lt. Col. Kirk Winger, 86th AMDS public health flight commander. “(The Army) has some unique expertise in the region. They’ve also developed some capabilities to test the ticks for pathogens. We know ticks are a concern here in Germany, and we know ticks can transmit diseases to humans.”
This surveillance is important to the Army as well.
“It’s needed because we don’t have any tick surveillance on Ramstein specifically,” said Maj. Lesly Calix, USAPHCEUR medical entomologist. “(Public health) collects the specimens. We identify them and submit them for testing. The surveillance is very important, so we know what we have and the risks we have in the area.”
To collect tick specimens, public health uses a couple of methods. The main method is a Carbon Dioxide, or CO2, trap. To set up the trap, technicians lay down a white piece of cardboard with adhesive near the outer edges in a high traffic wooded area. In the center of the board is a Styrofoam container with a block of dry ice inside it. As the dry ice melts, it emits CO2, which attracts ticks.
“Ticks feed off blood, and they get this blood from mammals and birds,” said Airman 1st Class Earnest Weaver, 86th AMDS public health technician. “They go about detecting or honing in on those species through sensing CO2 levels. The Styrofoam box is a really good insulator that allows the dry ice to melt slowly and continuously release CO2 out of the holes in the bottom. Ticks will go toward the CO2 and get stuck on the tape. We then check the next day and collect the ticks.”
Another method of collecting ticks is called a “tick drag” and involves walking in an area suspected of being heavily populated with ticks and dragging a blanket or other piece of cloth, which the ticks latch onto after sensing CO2 from exhaled breath or movement from the person dragging the blanket.
Common Misconceptions:
True or false? Ticks can be removed by lighting a match, blowing it out and touching it to a tick to get it to release its hold.
The answer to this question is false. Some other common misconceptions are that petroleum jelly, alcohol or a hot needle is useful to remove a tick.
The correct way to remove a tick from the body is to “use tweezers, grab the tick as close as you can to the skin, apply gentle, steady pressure and remove the tick. You shouldn’t use any other method, because it might upset or stress the tick and cause it to regurgitate and expel its gut content into your blood, including a potential disease causing pathogen,” Colonel Winger said.
Prevention:
To prevent ticks from biting or taking a blood meal from you, try to avoid areas where ticks accumulate or “quest,” such as tall grass or wooded, shaded areas, Airman Weaver said.
If this is unavoidable, you should instead wear light-colored boots, long-sleeved shirts and long pants, tuck the pants into boots, and, if possible, treat clothing/uniforms with permethrin and your skin with DEET.
Tick Checks:
Once home, it’s time to complete a tick check.
“Look over all your clothes, look along your hairline, run your hands all over your pets for ticks,” the flight commander said. “If you identify them early, they won’t be attached to you and feeding yet, so they’re easier to remove. The next best time to look for ticks is when you’re taking a shower and can check areas you wouldn’t necessarily see with your clothes on — places where you have creases, like your knee and your groin area. If you don’t check right away and give the tick time to bite you and attach itself, it’s more difficult to remove.”
Early detection and removal of ticks can help prevent disease, because ticks need to feed for 24 hours or more to transmit some diseases.
If a tick has already latched on, medical care is not necessarily needed, the colonel said. However, after removing the tick, keep it in Ziploc bag in the freezer and watch yourself for signs and symptoms of a tick-borne disease.
Some common symptoms may include, but are not limited to, a rash at the area of the tick bite, headaches, fever and nausea.
For more information on the U.S. Army Public Health Command Region-Europe, visit their Web site at www.chppmeur.healthcare.hqusareur.army.mil/.
To find out more information on tick-borne diseases, control and prevention, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Web site at www.cdc.gov/. For more on this story and to see more photos, visit www.ramstein.af.mil.
