A tick bite led to former senator's death. Here's what is known about the virus

msn.com ^ | 10/30/19 | msn staff

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

Former U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan died Monday at age 66 — nearly three years
after she was first hospitalized with what doctors later said was encephalitis.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes Powassan virus as
an illness spread by the bite of infected ticks.
Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain often caused by an infection like the Powassan virus, according to the Mayo Clinic.

"The recovery process for viral encephalitis varies by case
with differing impacts on the brain, speech, vision, memory and muscle control.."

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

voicereason:" Lyme disease is a bacteria; Powassan is the viral infection. "

Thank you for the correction, much appreciated :

Lyme disease, also known as Lyme borreliosis, is an infectious disease caused by the Borrelia bacterium which is spread by ticks.
Powassan virus is a flavivirus transmitted by ticks, found in North America and in the Russian Far East.

[1Old Pro]

Awareness and Permethrin at this point are the only preventatives against ticks.

Yep, but with all the tick borne illnesses one would think our advances would be more developed in prevention and treatment areas.

[Dr. Sivana]

Since Lyme disease is a virus, anti-biotics are not effective against viral diseases.

Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi ( https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/index.html )

Anti-biotics were sure effective against mine (only good if you catch it early), and good for my landlord's wife, who tried ineffective natural remedies at first. The amelioration in my case was within one day, and completely attributable to the Amoxicillin.

[cuban leaf]

So the difference is “P” vs “p”. :D

[Dawgreg]

That’s sad......

[cuban leaf]

Oh, and the A.

I just misspelled...

[woodbutcher1963]

That’s it.

He wore this shirt:

https://www.insectshield.com/Mens-Technical-Field-Shirt-P277.aspx

and these pants:

https://www.insectshield.com/Mens-Cargo-Pant-P240.aspx

Thanks FRiend

[poinq]

Ok, these diseases don’t kill everyone. In fact most people have had them and did not even notice. Lyme should be tested for if you feel bad for a while and have no real reason for it. But I suggest you start raising chickens or ducks let them loose on your grounds during the day. Keep all your roosters and let them stay out at night until they are gone. They will spend all day eating any tick they can find. Chickens are the pop corn of the animal kingdom. So you should expect them to be eaten. But they can take out 99% of ticks in a very short time. Some other birds like pea fowl are more likely to last longer and do the same thing.

[cuban leaf]

We’ve had chickens the entire time we’ve lived here, until a few months ago. And yeah, we have noticed a few more tick by the house. But my wife just got tired of all the chicken poop on the porches and the ruined plants.

[deport]

LOL,......

I was joking with you about the O - A. I do things like that
and can look at it several times and not see it. Take care.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Well, there is was a reason old timers in the Ozarks did a spring burn off of grass and brush on their property, which was to reduce the number of ticks and chiggers.

This lists some lawn spray solutions none of which I have tried:

https://bugspray.com/articles98/chiggers.html

7 natural tick remedies from Farmers Almanac.
https://www.farmersalmanac.com/7-natural-tick-remedies-work-27452

One suggestion was to eat garlic...Ticks do not like how you taste apparently! I have tried it for cooking, but not for ticks. (Let me know!)

[Capt. Tom]

I don’t like ticks, but I HATE chiggers.

Are chiggers those tiny red bugs that got in my belt line and bit the hell out of me while I was doing survey work in the woods and fields in Alabama ? - Tom

[cuban leaf]

Almost certainly. The fun part is that a week later they show up somewhere else. It’s like the colony wonders around under your skin and pops up somewhere else.

[MayflowerMadam]

“I also put down DE powder in and around my fenced in dog yard.”

There was a thread here a few years ago about people eating food grade DE. It was pretty interesting.

[Notthereyet]

My beloved was surprised when he heard of the cause of her death.

I asked him if he now understood the way I freak out if I think there’s a tick anywhere near my body.

We take care of our furbabies and our yard and still have to watch out in case the furbabies pick one up during a walk.

[woodbutcher1963]

I use food grade DE. You can buy it at farm supply stores.
It is different than the DE that you use in swimming pool filters.

I do not think I would eat it.

[woodbutcher1963]

We have wild turkeys here in southern NH that eat ticks all day for FREE.

[cuban leaf]

I love garlic. We also have a TON of wild garlic in our lawn. Maybe if I smear it on...

[MayflowerMadam]

“I do not think I would eat it.”

I guess a lot of posters did eat it — for parasites in themselves. (It was a gross thread, needless to say.)

[greeneyes]

My Grandpa used to use coal oil around his ankles to keep the chiggers at bay.

I don’t recall what he used for ticks, except if there was one attached, we taped a cotton ball soaked in nail polish remover (acetone based). They turned loose after a short period.

All itchy bug bites got camphophonic applied liberally.