FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM AUGUST 3, 2017 • HEALTH • THE QUEENS COURIER 43
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Of Lyme and Reason
LIJ Forest Hills Emergency Doc Talks Ticks
Dr. Teresa Amato, director
director of emergency medicine at LIJ Forest Hills,
tends to a patient in the h
hospital’s ED.
With Lyme disease a constant in the news, and predictions
of an uptick in ticks this summer season, are you destined
to become a tick statistic?
Not necessarily, says Teresa Amato, MD, director of
emergency medicine at Long Island Jewish Forest Hills.
Last year, there were 946 cases of Lyme disease in
New York City, including 128 in Queens, according to
the New York City Health Department.
Symptoms for Lyme disease such as fever, neck
stiffness, joint pain and fatigue can be very mild to
severe. A bull’s-eye rash — a solid dot with a red
circle around it — which can develop at a tick-bite
site, is a tell-tale sign of Lyme disease transmission.
“People come to the ED with angst when they have
a tick bite. They’re so worried that they’re going to
get Lyme disease,” explained Dr. Amato. “It is prevalent,
but the ticks that carry it are the deer ticks, the
little tiny ones that you often don’t see. So when
you see the bigger ticks, those are usually the ones
that aren’t carrying Lyme disease.”
If you’re going to be in a wooded area or high grasses
near the beach where ticks usually are, make
sure to:
• Wear light-colored clothing to allow you to
spot ticks that crawl on your clothing.
• Wear long-sleeved shirts and tuck your
pant legs into your socks so that ticks can’t crawl
inside of your pant legs.
• Check your body and clothing for any ticks
afterward. Ticks tend to migrate to the warmest parts
of the body such as the groin, armpits and the base of
your scalp.
• Shower to help remove non-attached ticks.
Showering has been shown to reduce the risk of getting
Lyme disease.
“If a patient comes into the ED and says they’ve bit and been in area that’s endemic
for ticks we often will give one dose of the antibiotic doxycycline,” said Dr. Amato.
Given within 72 hours of a tick bite, doxycycline is an effective prophylaxis for the
disease. For children under age eight, the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention recommend that no prophylaxis be given.
“If they come in with the actual bulls-eye rash, then we presume it’s Lyme
disease and start them with antibiotics, do a titer test for Lyme and have them
follow up with their primary care doctor.”
With Lyme disease a constant in the news and predictions