News You Can Use: Tick, tick, BOOM!

Date: 05/17/19

In a typical year, only one Oregonian is diagnosed with Colorado Tick Fever (CTF). In 2018, five Oregonians were diagnosed with CTF in a five week period: four from Deschutes County and one from neighboring Jefferson County.

Lane County shares a long border with Deschutes County and both counties regularly harbor the tick vector of this disease. Lane County residents recreating in Central Oregon typically travel there via the northern route (i.e., Oregon Route 126 and US Route 20), or via the southern route (Oregon Route 58). In spring and early summer, when ticks are most active, a nature walk or hike from any number of popular trailheads along those highways (e.g., Sahalie Falls, Metolius River, Black Butte, the Cascades Lakes) may well involve an encounter with a tick, and thus the possibility of CTF or another tick-borne infection such as Lyme disease.

While human tick-borne diseases are infrequent in Oregon, they do occur. Importantly, they are preventable. During the spring and summer months of high tick activity, Lane County Public Health encourages clinical partners to reinforce tick prevention measures. A few of those measures are listed here, with a deeper discussion in the resources noted below:

• Use insect repellent on exposed skin
• Wear protective clothing, including long sleeves and long pants
• Treat clothing with permethrin-containing insecticide
• Perform a “tick check” upon return from outdoor activities

RESOURCES:

Tick prevention measures: cdc.gov/features/stopticks

CDC report of Colorado Tick Fever cases in Oregon: cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6812a4

 

News You Can Use is a partnership between Trillium Community Health Plan and Lane County Public Health