Avoiding Fleas and Ticks : Preventing Tick-Borne Disease

by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

(Page 3 of 3)

Improving Safety

Pesticides and repellents to protect cats and dogs from fleas and ticks have risks as well as benefits. Concerned over recent reports of adverse effects from such products, the Environmental Protection Agency, in cooperation with industry, has developed guidance for labeling changes to promote proper use.

The effort, coordinated by EPA policy analyst Janet Whitehurst, began early in 1994, when she learned that in just 18 months, EPA had received 853 reports of adverse effects, including 148 animal deaths and 58 reports of illness in humans. Most reports involved cats, which are more sensitive than dogs.

Improved labels would:

• Direct users to read the entire label before each use.
• Clearly state the animal for which the product is registered and the minimum age for safe use.
• Caution users to consult a veterinarian before treating certain animals, such as those that are ill or pregnant (unless safety is known).
• Warn about adverse reactions and interactions with medicines or other chemicals.
• Advise users to wash their hands after use.
• Clearly state limitations for reapplication.
• Give a phone number to call about proper use and emergencies.
• Include first-aid information.

Using Flea and Tick Products

• Read the entire label before use. If you don't understand something, ask your veterinarian.
• Follow directions exactly, using latex gloves if possible. Then wash your hands.
• On cats, use only products labeled for cats.
• Store products away from food and out of children's reach.

Preventing Tick-Borne Disease

If your dog is outside regularly, ask the veterinarian about the Lyme disease vaccine. (There's no vaccine for cats yet.) Watch for itching, pain, appetite loss, lethargy, fever, swollen joints, or lameness. If you suspect a tick-borne disease, see the veterinarian pronto. With early diagnosis, antibiotics generally work.

The illustration at right shows proper tick removal procedures. Using fine-point tweezers, grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible and pull gently. Make sure you've cleaned your hands, the bite site, and the tweezers with disinfectant. You may want to wear latex gloves.

The Lyme Disease Foundation, Hartford, Conn., suggests:

• Apply tick-killing pesticides to your pets.
• Treat your pet's environment with tick-killing pesticides.
• Mow grass regularly.
• Avoid allowing your pet in grassy, wooded or beach areas, unless you take appropriate precautions. While in areas of tick exposure, examine pets closely for ticks on a daily basis, especially around the head and inside the ears.
• Remove ticks immediately. This is important because it can take hours for an infected tick to transmit disease. Using fine-point tweezers, grasp the tick where the mouth parts are embedded into the skin and pull gently. Make sure you've cleaned your hands, the bite site, and the tweezers with disinfectant. You may want to wear latex gloves.
• Place the tick in a small container, like a pill vial. Label the container with the date, pet's name, type of animal, and your name, address, and phone number. Call your veterinarian about having the tick analyzed for type and possible diseases it may transmit.
• Never remove a tick with your fingers, as the squeezing further injects infectious material.
• Never try to burn a tick off or to smother it with petroleum jelly or nail polish, as these methods don't work.

In addition, take these steps to protect yourself when in woods and grasslands:

• Wear long-sleeved shirts tight at the wrists, long pants tight at the ankles and tucked in socks, and shoes covering the whole foot.
• Wear light-colored clothes that show ticks easily.
• On clothing, use a repellent containing permethrin. However, do not apply it to clothing while it is being worn, and allow the clothing to thoroughly dry before wearing.
• On skin, use a repellent containing DEET. But don't overdo it. Too much bug spray can cause breathing difficulty, especially in children.

Human Problems

Fleas and ticks transmit diseases to people as well as pets.

Lyme disease is by far the most often reported tick-borne disease in humans in the United States: 13,083 cases in 1994, up from 8,257 in 1993. Most reports came from the Northeast and North Central regions of the country. Symptoms include fatigue, chills and fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, swollen lymph nodes, and a red, circular skin rash. (See "Getting Lyme Disease to Take a Hike," in the June 1994 FDA Consumer.)

The next most prevalent disease from ticks is Rocky Mountain spotted fever, characterized by fever, headache, rash, and nausea or vomiting. It affects more than 500 people each year, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CDC received reports of 415 cases of human monocytotropic ehrlichiosis, a disease also transmitted by ticks, since it was identified in 1986. It is similar to Rocky Mountain spotted fever, but usually without the rash. In 1994, scientists identified another similar disease, human granulocytic ehrlichiosis, or HGE. About 170 cases have been reported.

The organism that causes the tick-borne disease babesiosis infects red blood cells, which burst and die, resulting in hemolytic anemia. Patients develop a malaria-like fever, chills, sweats, muscle aches, nausea, and vomiting; those with no spleen are at particular risk of developing severe disease. The reported incidence of babesiosis is about one-tenth that of Lyme disease, or even less, according to Sam Telford, Ph.D., a lecturer on tropical public health with the Harvard School of Public Health.

Lyme disease, HGE, and babesiosis are all transmitted by the deer tick. Ticks have been found to have any two of those disease-causing organisms. "I believe it's only a matter of time before we find a tick with all three," Telford says. The lone star tick transmits human monocytotropic ehrlichiosis.

Many exposed people never develop the diseases. Roughly 5 percent of the coastal Massachusetts' population has antibodies against babesiosis, Telford says. "We believe it's about the same for ehrlichiosis. For Lyme disease, it's maybe three times that."

Fleas or an infected animal can transmit bubonic plague. Seven cases, including one death, were reported to CDC in 1995, in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Oregon. Another 13 cases, also including one death, were reported in 1994, in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah.

Symptoms of bubonic plague include fever, headache, vague discomfort, and very painful, swollen lymph nodes near the infection site. Septicemic plague is more serious because the bloodstream is infected, as is pneumonic plague, with its overwhelming pneumonia. Antibiotics are used for treatment. A plague vaccine is available for special groups at very high risk.

Early diagnosis and treatment give humans the best chance of recovery from these and other flea- or tick-transmitted diseases.

About the Author

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FDA is A United States government body that oversees medical devices, including contact lenses, intraocular lenses, excimer lasers and eyedrops. In the US, these products must be approved by the FDA before they can be marketed.