Health in Berkshires

Health

Pests & Other Hazards

Mosquitoes, seasonal black flies, and just about every other flitting and annoying insect known to North America proliferates in humid and often lush western Massachusetts. Exercise common precautions and wear lotions or sprays that keep away such pests.

Lyme disease, which was first documented in neighboring Connecticut, is relatively common and potentially dangerous throughout the region, especially where you find significant deer populations. Lyme disease is spread by bites from infinitesimal deer ticks. Symptoms, unfortunately, vary considerably from victim to victim, and one common problem is delayed diagnosis -- the longer you go without treating this problem, the more severe its effects.

Most victims show a red-ring-shape rash around the bite from the deer tick, somewhat resembling a little bull's eye and appearing from a week to many weeks after the incident. Flulike symptoms often follow -- fever, achy joints, swelling, and if left untreated for more than a couple months, chronic arthritis may set in.

Unfortunately, testing for Lyme disease is a sketchy business at best, as no definitive method has yet been developed. Doctors typically rely on a series of blood tests and even more often on observation of various symptoms.

When spending time in areas where tick infestation is a problem, wear long-sleeve clothing and slacks, tuck your pant legs into your boots and/or socks, apply tick and insect repellent generously, and check yourself carefully for signs of ticks or bites. It's a good idea to wear light-color clothing, as you'll have an easier time sighting ticks, which are dark. Remember that the more commonly found wood ticks do not carry the disease, and that deer ticks are extremely small -- about the size of a pinhead.