with permathrin and carefully applying DEET-containing insect repellent [at least 20%] have been shown to be effective in preventing tick bites. Closely examining your skin — and the skin of your loved ones, including your canine pals — when returning from an outdoor excursion is always a good habit to get into when living in regions that are home to ticks. Remember that ticks can’t jump or fly. They climb on tall grasses and shrubs and wait for someone to brush against them. Once they hitch a ride, ticks like to hide in and around the hairline, behind the ears, under the arms, inside the belly button, around the waist, between the legs, and behind the knees. Immediately removing an attached tick as soon as it is found is hugely important because after 36 hours, transmission of tickborne diseases becomes more likely. The CDC suggests not waiting for the tick to detach by using “folklore remedies such as ‘painting’ the tick with nail polish or petroleum jelly, or using heat.” Instead: 1. Use fine-tipped tweezers to grasp the tick as close to the skin’s surface as possible. 2. Pull upward with steady, even pressure. Don’t twist or jerk the tick; this can cause the mouth-parts to break off and remain in the skin. If this happens, remove the mouth-parts with twee-
zers. If you are unable to remove the mouth easily with clean tweezers, leave it alone and let the skin heal. 3. After removing the tick, thoroughly clean the bite area and your hands with rubbing alcohol or soap and water. 4. Never crush a tick with your fingers. Dispose of a live tick by putting it in alcohol, placing it in a sealed bag/container, wrapping it tightly in tape, or flushing it down the toilet.
Read the CDC’s outstanding reference manual on “Tickborne Diseases of the United States” here. Read more about Lyme disease and tickborne illnesses on The PediaBlog here.
Allergies
Summer Allergy Update Sergei Belenky, MD, PhD
:
Allergy, Asthma, Immunology.
:
AHN Pediatric Institute
As the COVID-19 pandemic has been dominating social and medical discourse for quite some time now both globally and locally, we in the healthcare community and the public in general have been particularly strained with ‘run of the mill’ human disease, both chronic and acute. I’d like to give a brief perspective of what to expect this summer and fall from seemingly unending allergy season looming large in our region and geographies across the country. I am writing this on July 24th which, in our area, puts the community in the midst of a pretty significant outdoor MOLD season - ALTERNARIA. Alternaria thrives in the hot and humid conditions generously provided by the summer time. It is an important cause of allergic rhinitis and asthma and keeps allergists busy through the summer, some years more than others. The GRASS pollen season as such should be considered over at this point, but more sensitive sufferers of allergy may still be feeling its effect.
AHN Pediatrics-Pediatric Alliance • Summer 2020 • www.ahnpediatrics.org
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