Going back to
school, after a summer free from the drudgery of homework assignments, can
prove to be a real challenge for some children, but not for the reasons you
might otherwise expect. If your child was bitten by a deer tick during the
summer months or at the start of the school year, he or she may have become
infected with Lyme disease or one of its co-infections such as babesiosis or
anaplasmosis. Whether bitten by an infected tick during the summer or while
participating in outside school activities, the end result can be devastating
to a child, transforming him or her from a productive and happy student to one
who is chronically ill and unable to function in the school environment.
If a child is
infected with a tick-borne disease such as Lyme disease, he or she can be
presented with a myriad of symptoms, beginning with flu-like conditions and
progressing to far more serious health complications. Some of the more common chronic
symptoms associated with Lyme disease include headaches, muscle and joint pain,
stiff neck, stomach aches, back pain, chronic fatigue, anxiety, short term
memory loss, slurred speech, inability to concentrate for long periods, depression,
brain fog, difficulty sleeping at night, and the list goes on seemingly without
end. It is not uncommon to find a child diagnosed with behavioral issues such
as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD), when in reality their neurological symptoms were caused by undiagnosed Lyme
disease.
Lyme disease is a multi-system
disease. The disease organism can spread to all parts of the body, including
the brain, the central nervous system, the heart, the muscles and joints, the intestinal
system, the bones, etc. The physical pain and mental impairment associated with
this disease can be incredibly debilitating, and the neurological issues
behavior altering.
School age children
are at particularly high risk because they spend a lot of their free time
outdoors with recreational or extracurricular school activities. How many
students during a soccer game have chased down a loose ball rolling off the
field and into a wooded area? How many students have sat on the grass in the
shade of a tree getting a needed break from the heat of the sun between halves
of a sporting event? These outside areas can represent danger zones for tick
infestation, and students, coaches, and teachers need to know this. As
indestructible as students may think they are, they are not exempt from tick
bites or the diseases they carry.
Pupils must be
taught where they are most likely to come in contact with ticks when outdoors,
and that deer ticks are active throughout the entire school year. Whenever the
temperature is above 32 degrees and the ground is not frozen or covered with
snow, you will find deer ticks looking for a host to feed on. And once a tick attaches
to you and goes unnoticed, you become a prime candidate for contracting Lyme
disease or any or its co-infections.
Thus, students must learn
to check themselves for ticks right after outside activities if possible, or certainly
no later than at the end of the day. They must be informed of those personal
protection measures available to them to repel ticks, such as using tick
repellents both on clothing and skin.
Students, as well as
parents and school faculty alike, must be educated about ticks, Lyme disease,
and other tick-borne diseases, and how these diseases present themselves. Then,
when a child comes down with flu-like symptoms during the non-flu season,
unexplained muscle and joint pain, behavioral changes, chronic fatigue, etc., tick-borne
diseases can be looked at as a possible cause for the child’s condition, and
timely treatment given.