Health officials urge using protection when outdoors

Chuck Lubelczyk, a Maine field biologist, right, said the cases are up despite Maine's dry summer. Inset left, a typical deer tick. (Courtesy images)

Maine Health officials are speaking out about another serious tick-borne disease that has caused the hospitalization of many residents of Northern New England, including one of the highest incidences reported in the Pine Tree State.

The disease is spread by the dreaded deer tick - which also carries Lyme disease - and is called anaplasmosis.

While New Hampshire has seen little spike in cases this year, Maine has, with the state seeing 266 incidents of infection through August, well over the 186 for all of last year, Chuck Lubelczyk, a field biologist at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute in Scarborough, told the Portland Press Herald in a story published today.

Some of the symptoms include fever, headache, muscle pain, malaise, chills, nausea, cough and confusion. It can be fatal.

According to the Center for Disease Control, the best treatment is the antibiotic doxycycline or other tetracyclines, while other antibiotics can actually exacerbate the condition and lead to fatal outcomes. Doxycycline is most effective at preventing severe complications from developing if it is started early in the course of disease, the CDC stated.

The transmission potential to humans, more prevalent in the spring and summer, can continue to be a problem through the fall, officials say.

This year's spike is a bit of a surprise because dry summer weather cut down on tick numbers, Lubelczyk said.

Officials are warning residents to protect themselves from tick bites while outside raking leaves, cutting wood or preparing their homes for winter.