Spread of Deadly Disease. Beware! Part 3 "Lyme Disease"

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released an advisory on how to protect yourself and your family from tick bites. The CDC became famous in the movie, Contagion, showing its involvement in disease-plague prevention. The Flu-like symptoms are true. Ticks pass infected saliva into human skin with a bite. The parasites act quickly, invading and feeding on the body’s red cells, introducing disease into the host through an infected bite.

The elderly population, children and people with low immune system are more at risk. It is advisable to seek medical attention immediately, instead of dismissing it as a case of common flu. They say treatment can be effective if the disease is caught early on.

Lyme disease affects various parts of the body in different degrees as it advances. Bacteria enters the skin through the initial tick bite, infection is followed by the spread of a reddish rash associated with common flu-like symptoms. Overtime, the parasites work fast to hijack your system to later produce abnormalities in the joints, nervous system and the heart.

The part one of this article showed a short story I made about a small town that was unknowingly taken over by a strange disease they took for granted as the common flu, later causing pandemonium and rampant deaths which took the CDC officials by surprise. Fiction as it maybe, the symptoms I mentioned attributing to the disease itself is true.

Lyme disease is medically described to have 3 stages as: (1) early localized disease with skin inflammation; (2) early disseminated disease with heart and nervous system involvement, including palsies and meningitis; and (3) late disease featuring motor and sensory nerve damage and brain inflammation as well as arthritis.

Some tips given by the CDC included the following:

1. Spray yourself with DEET or permethrin tick repellent (on clothing and gear)

2.      Always wear pant before venturing in to the forest. Tuck you pants into your boots.

3.      Wear white or light colored clothing, it will be easier to see a tick and kill it right way.

4.      Before entering a wooded or grassy area use repellents containing 20 percent or more DEET.

5.      Nymphs are commonly found on the forest floor and can climb aboard via your feet.

Always use socks and shoes. Boots are recommended. Check them from time to time.

6.      Avoid tick infected areas like tick vegetation. They like tall grass, shrubs and leaf litter, these hitchhikers are just waiting to get a ride via your boot and snack on you.

7.      Perform daily tick checks after being outdoors, even when in your yard.

8.      Use a hand-held mirror or full length mirror to view all parts of your body. If you find a tick, remove it immediately using tweezers.

9.      Important areas to check: Your arms, in and around your ears, inside the belly button, back of the knees, all around your head and body hair, between the legs and around the waist.

10.  Toss your clothing in the dryer upon coming home from the woods. This will avoid the ticks from entering your house which can be carried via your clothing.

So next time you come down with the common flu, please do not dismiss it. Danger may be constantly around us. The common pests might surprise you as they bring not so common problems.

We do not need to wait the last minute to take extra precaution. Whether it is common pests, health condition, weather changes or spread of disease, one must not take for granted things and wait for the hammer to come crashing down.

Get rid of pests, keep yourself updated with the latest diseases, stay healthy, take care of our ecology, be aware of changes in your surroundings and consult a doctor. These tips will save your life. Time is precious. We do not have the luxury of time. Life is short, we must live it well.

Spread of Deadly Disease. Beware! Part 2

It is late fall, the hunting season has brought about great trade in the locality. A lot of people in this small North American town came down with flu-like symptoms and no one seemed to be alarmed. Despite the rampant health issues the people experienced, everyone was more distressed about the unexpected acorn crop problem, followed by the disturbing sudden increase in white-legged mouse population in the county. Pest companies worked overtime to eliminate the mice population unknowingly creating another greater issue they are yet to discover.

In few days, a family member comes down with a high fever, followed by the spread of an expanding reddish rash. The doctor said your loved one will be better, the muscle and joint pain, fatigue, fever; swollen lymph nodes are normal symptoms of the flu and will soon go away after some time, but no one got better.

A visiting scientist did some research and conducted interviews. The findings were both astounding and horrifying. No one in town knew yet but the town will have to be locked down. The CDC representatives were on their way, a phone call was just made. A few miles away was your house, you have not had any sleep for weeks. You decide to enter your room, your loved one looks like he is fast asleep with his mouth open. You wonder why you cannot hear the soft snoring you have grown used to over the past 25 years.

You lean over and try to close his mouth. To your horror, he is cold and rigid, you start to panic, and a 4-inch mutated tick comes out of his mouth. A cold loud shrill screaming in your heart, mind and spirit out no voice came out of you. It is too late. Frozen in place, the over-sized tick bit your hand and has made its way into your mouth unknowingly.

Sounds like a movie teaser from an upcoming horror movie, don’t you think? Well watching movies like the Bay, a 2012 American horror thriller film shot in the “found footage” technique showing an entire city was devastated by absolute pandemonium after an astounding level of toxicity was discovered in the water of Chesapeake Bay resulting to a plague that turned humans into hosts for deadly, mutant breed of parasites living in the dark waters.

Spread of Deadly Disease. Beware! Part 1

Imagine this. Looking out your bedroom window, admiring a picturesque forest, in it is an array of trees each showcasing different colored leaves. Some yellow, orange, red, purple, pink, brown and each showing a palette of beauty beyond your explanation. You feel so blessed to have what you have and you see yourself very fortunate to live in this part of the country. You feel the love, the joy and the abundance.

It is late fall, the hunting season has brought about great trade in the locality. This isolated small town, viewed by many tourists as an escape from the city, is buzzing with excitement and realization that the town will have a wonderful Christmas celebration this year due to the increased profit earned during the deer hunting season. Everyone is happy and it is perfect.

Then one day, all of a sudden one-by-one the men in your small town all come down with flu-like symptoms and no one seems to be alarmed. Adding to the health issues people were experiencing was a sudden increase in white-legged mouse population all over the county followed by the unexpected acorn crop problem. Pest companies worked overtime to eliminate the mice unknowingly creating another greater issue they are yet to discover.

In a weeks’ time, your loved one comes down with a high fever followed by the spread of an expanding reddish rash. The local hospital, far from its city counterpart, knowingly not as equipped to take tests as compared to the bigger medical facilities found far away, has dismissed it as the common flu. The doctor said your loved one will be better, the muscle and joint pain, fatigue, fever; swollen lymph nodes are normal symptoms of the flu and will soon go away after some time, but no one got better.

Soon one by one the men of your town die. Cause of death was declared as severe meningitis, some due to cardiac arrest. The ones still living start having difficulty with memory or thinking and complaints of odd sensations such as numbness. Everyone is horrified. The children and women start coming down with the same symptoms and succumb to death with the same cause of death.

A scientist from the CDC, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, along with his partner, a city reporter, who was visiting relatives in town became suspicions, there must be something here. Something big, something is very wrong. They start doing research and conduct interviews. The result of their findings was astounding and horrifying. They called the Director of the CDC and asked for the office to send help. The future of the country depended on it. The town will have to be locked down.

A few miles away was your house, you have not had any sleep for weeks. You were busy giving constant care to your loved one who came down with the flu a week ago. You decide to enter your room, your loved one looks like he is fast asleep with his mouth open. You wonder why you cannot hear the soft snoring you have grown used to over the past 25 years. You look closer, wanting to check if he is OK  You are astounded with what lies before you, the disease everyone thought was the common flu turned out to be something else.

Researching disease brought by common pests does this to a writer like me, also doing extensive scientific research on my articles for website publishing does provide me with numerous possibilities that might come up one day. Who knows? There is a lot of truth in what I have written, except for the 4-inch mutated tick.

Stay on this site and read more. See the next parts of this article to find out more about this deadly disease and what causes it. Know how to symptoms to keep your family safe.