Chatham Chatlist Highlights

Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2011 08:16:24 -0400
From: Elizabeth Morris
Subject: Have You Taken a Look at the Chatham County Public Health Department’s Blog Lately?

~What’s the best way to keep ticks out of my yard?

~What should I look for in order to find the most effective sunscreen?

~When should my child get their Hepatitis B vaccinations?

~What healthy and delicious meal should I cook tonight?

Check out the Chatham County Public Health Department’s blog at chathampublichealth.com for answers to all of these questions, and to stay current with important local and national health news and Chatham County Health Department services and projects.

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Date: Thu, 05 May 2011 13:12:29 -0400
From: “Lawrence F. London, Jr.”
Subject: Re.: Not killing eveything that crawls | Rescuing harmless spiders
that appear in inconvenient places.

On 5/5/2011 7:59 AM, Chatham Chatlist wrote:

> Date: Wed, 4 May 2011 15:12:31 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
> From: lingam32443
> Subject: Not killing eveything at crawls
>
> I was deeply touched by the article detailing how to catch a spider and
> transporting it outside without killing. As sure as you are reading
> this, spiders and all the other little creepy crawlers help make up this
> complex world of ours. Destroy them, you are destroying your world. It
> is happening with pollinating bees that are disappearing, fish kills,
> bird kills and any number of similar die-offs. I know that spider bites
> can be dangerous and painful- but I in my 42 years, can only remember a
> couple of spider bites.

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Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 09:00:05 -0500
From: Marcia Herman
Subject: It is likely that these are black-legged ticks

It is likely that these are black-legged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) as winter is their active season.  They have become plentiful in the past few years,  These are the ticks that may carry Lyme disease.  The adults feed and mate in the winter.  If you find an engorged one on a pet, look underneath the swollen tick carefully and sometimes you can see a tiny black tick.  This is the male mating.  Dog ticks and lone stars are not active yet.  Lone stars will be active soon, however.

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Date: Thu, 7 May 2009 16:38:52 -0400
From: Simon Lobdell
Subject: Re: Chatham Chatlist #3414

Regarding the post Subject: A PLEA FOR THE DEER WHO CALL PITTSBORO HOME

Well it seems very heart felt what is being said here but it is wildly misinformed.  Lyme Disease and RMSF are not scare tactics they are scary and awful and directly related to the population of DEER in town and in this county.  There are more deer now than at any time in history exactly because we don’t hunt.  The herds are out of control and the best deed you could do for the scrawny deer of Chatham county is hunt them… or bring back the wolf and lion that used to control the herds.  Since I doubt parents and dog owners will be at all willing to do this, then please hunt as many deer as you possibly can.

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Date: Sun, 08 Mar 2009 14:58:10 -0400
From: maxgopher
Subject: Deer and Ticks (and songbirds, too)

As a former resident of NC (Chatham Forest), and one of many diagnosed with RMSF just on my block, I would like for all the “Deer Huggers” to understand that in many parts of the country, there is a great interest in trying to understand the correlation between vector populations and disease occurances.? Yes, other furry rodents are vectors for ticks.

But the vast majority are deer.
And deer travel the farthest.
And deer carry more ticks/animal.
Please read this important study on deer as vectors for disease-carrying ticks:
http://www.deeralliance.com/index.php?pageID=5&articleID=51

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Date: Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:58:40 -0500
From: George
Subject: I would like to comment on a couple old threads

I would like to comment on a couple ofl threads that have been on the chatlist recently.

The first is in regards to the deer population.  This discussion began with tick born diseases. Nowhere was it mentioned that deer are only one of the vectors in the ticks life cycle. Another and just as important vector is/are rodents (bye the bye they carry  many diseases). These animals have many natural preditors but the one that many peoiple misunderstand and fear are the various snakes that live here. Many think that the only good snake is a dead one but they are beneficial and should be left alone unless they actually pose a danger to people.

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Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:27:48 -0500
From: John Dykers, MD
Subject: tick bourn diseases

fortunately the 3 main tick bourn diseases, Rocky Mt Spotted Fever, Erhlichosis, and Lyme disease are all susucptible to doxycycline in the early stages, usuallly 100 mg twice a day for 10 days. My premise is that I should rarely make the diagnosis of any of these because I accept the risk of overtreating tick bites, not all tick bites, but I have a high index of suspicion, especially if I think a tick may have been imbedded for near 24 hours.

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Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2009 08:29:44 -0500
From: gardener
Subject: overpopulation of deer in Chatham county

In response to the well-intentioned posting below, I must respectfully disagree.

While it is absolutely true that habitat destruction is putting pressure on wildlife, that is not why deer have become such a problem. The population explosion among deer is well-documented, and it is largely a consequence of two factors: reduction in hunting, and availability of food in suburban (and urban) neighborhoods. It is a common myth that deer move around looking for food as they are displaced. Actually, deer are very territorial and will remain on their home ranges and starve to death rather than move elsewhere.

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Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:40:52 -0500
From: Matthew Arnsberger
Subject: deer in Chatham

Simon,
Thanks for your thoughts on tick-borne diseases (TBD’s). I have been treated for TBD’s five times in the last seven years, though we are not always certain that my symptoms were from tick diseases. Sometimes my doctor put me on antibiotics without doing the tests.

I am a landscaper and work outdoors and am frequently exposed to ticks.

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Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2009 06:13:32 -0500
From: Karen Tiede
Subject: tick testing

Last time I got a blood test for a tick-related infection, the bill for the test itself was $700-some-odd.  Something to consider if you’re on a high-deductible or HSA insurance plan.

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