Lyme

Although more than 30,000 people in the U.S. are infected with Lyme disease each year, Dr. Robert Edelman says most infections can be avoided or, if not, then treated. "Even [with] a tick that has been feeding on you for one day, your chance of getting Lyme disease is remote, because it takes two to three days of feeding to infect people," he says. "Besides, four out of five ticks are not infected." Some ticks are difficult to see. When I'm checking my body, what areas should I pay closest attention to?

Howard County is organizing an expanded deer hunt this fall in the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area -- despite objections from animal advocates -- as part of a countywide effort to control a burgeoning population that is causing major damage, officials say.According to estimates in a Howard County Deer Task Force Study conducted from 1996 and released late last week -- but due two years ago -- the animals are causing more than 1,000 traffic accidents a...

Amid an advertising blitz for the world's first vaccine against Lyme disease, doctors caution that the product is probably best reserved for people who live, work or play in the region's tick-infested woods and grasslands.The vaccine's cost -- a total of $150 for three shots that must be given over 12 months -- is just one reason why doctors say the vaccine is not for everyone. And while a clinical trial showed the vaccine is 78 percent effective, researchers are not sure whether boosters will be needed to maintain a high level of protection.

Just the name of the neighborhood may conjure up the image of merry men on a deer hunt, with the local sheriff none too pleased.But in Anne Arundel County's Sherwood Forest -- a well-to-do waterfront community -- state officials want a select group of hunters to take on a burgeoning deer population that is devouring shrubs and plants and posing a threat of disease.The Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced plans yesterday for a managed hunt in the 600 acres of woods surrounding the community of 341 homes north of Annapolis.

IF CARROLL County is spending $30,000 on something, it must be important. That's usually considered a big-ticket item by the county commissioners, unless it's a quick pay raise for themselves.The money is earmarked to inoculate some 200 outdoors county workers for Lyme disease, the debilitating illness spread by infected deer ticks the size of a pinhead.A series of three shots over 12 months costs $150 (an annual booster shot may also be required) but the potential costs of treatment and rehabilitation for someone infected can be substantial, justifying the prevention, county officials say.This is the first year that an approved vaccine is available (though still not for children)

Adele and Charles Sands cherish their daily hike in Oregon Ridge Park. But as the vegetation has grown more lush, the Timonium couple has become increasingly apprehensive about the ticks they find clinging to their dog, Samantha. Although the Australian shepherd has had shots to prevent Lyme disease for several years, the Sandses recently joined the first wave of humans to try vaccination as protection from the tick-borne illness.Adele Sands has already had a brush with the infection. About a year ago, she developed a circular rash that looked suspiciously like the classic bull's-eye rash of Lyme disease, a bacterial infection that can invade different systems of the body.

Suburban deer hunt seeks to protect kids, not flowersThe recent publicity regarding the deer cull on my property calls for a response ("Neighbors concerned by deer hunt permit," Oct. 11).I am not holding this hunt because of plant and shrub damage, though we and our neighbors have experienced substantial losses through the years.I am taking this step because my grandson contracted Lyme disease this summer while living with us.He was hospitalized for six days and endured terrible pain. He was unable to use his arm and was on intravenous medication day and night.

Behind the 15-foot-high barbed-wire fence at Patuxent Institution in Jessup, inmates are making weapons.Weapons to fight the spread of Lyme disease, that is.In the past month -- with $100,000 in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture -- the inmates have built 100 metal feeding stations designed to attract deer and kill their ticks.The project, which is said to be one of the largest undertaken by Maryland prisoners, is part of a $2 million experiment to deal with one of the fears accompanying the burgeoning suburban deer population -- the rising number of cases of Lyme disease, which can be transmitted by ticks.

Lyme disease cases in Maryland increased 17 percent last year, according to figures released recently by the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Officials believe the increase is because of better public awareness and reporting.There were 493 confirmed cases reported in 1997, compared with 423 in 1996, said Dr. Clifford Johnson, the state's public health veterinarian.The disease is transmitted by ticks and symptoms include a circular, expanding reddish rash.Pub Date: 5/12/98

Several years ago, when Jason Huggins was riding his bike through woods near the Gunpowder River, the teen-ager fell prey to an enemy the size of a sesame seed.It was a deer tick carrying Lyme disease.When Huggins got a stiff neck, he thought he had pulled a muscle. But later the Parkville boy felt "pins and needles" in his left arm. Neurologists at Greater Baltimore Medical Center's emergency room examined him, then sent him to the chief of infectious diseases, Charles Hale.When Hale learned how much time Jason had spent in the woods, he searched for signs of Lyme and discovered its telltale rash in Huggins' armpit.

No one knows precisely why Howard County has more reported Lyme disease cases than any other jurisdiction in Maryland, but part of the solution might be local. An ungainly looking green plastic device called a four-poster that simultaneously attracts deer with corn and then uses four paint rollers to apply a mild pesticide that kills ticks is manufactured in Ellicott City by the 82-year-old C.R. Daniels Co. It is the only firm in the nation licensed by the federal government to produce the four-poster, which was invented and perfected by U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists to protect cattle from lone star ticks in the Southwest.

Under Our Skin is a documentary wake-up call. This compelling account of the explosive growth of Lyme disease grows to encompass all the peculiar politics, corruption and inertia of American medicine. Everyone agrees that the tick-borne disease is "the great imitator," mirroring a multitude of ailments, including fibromyalgia and Parkinson's disease. But the ideas that Lyme disease can be chronic and that its treatment should go on for months or years have become points of controversy for physicians, insurers, and research funders.

Imagine That *** ( 3 STARS) Eddie Murphy returned to top comic-dramatic form in this deft, charming comedy, playing a driven financial analyst whose daughter's imaginary friends seem to be handing her good stock tips. Critics applauded, but the audience stayed away in droves; it's worth seeking out before it disappears entirely, especially for families who've already seen Up twice. Opening next Friday Bruno : (Universal Pictures) Sacha Baron Cohen brings another of his flamboyant characters to the big-screen in this "gotcha" comedy, made in the Borat tradition.

Lyme disease, a highly preventable bacterial infection, strikes nearly 20,000 people a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The peak incidence of Lyme disease will occur from May through early October, so now is the time to guard against the tick bites that transmit the infection. Dr. Thomas F. Hattar, of the Annapolis Center for Integrative Medicine and Anne Arundel Medical Center, offers five things to know about Lyme disease going into the summer season: * Lyme disease can usually be prevented by avoiding areas of tall grass and brush where ticks reside.

Auditions, arts camp at Slayton House Slayton House Conservatory for high school students is holding auditions for its 2009 sessions from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m to 4:30 p.m. April 4. Applicants should prepare a one-minute memorized monologue and 16 bars of a song, and be ready to learn and demonstrate a brief dance combination. The camp will be held June 29 through July 17 and July 20 through Aug. 7. Information: Kathy Verheul, 410-730-3987 or 301-596-4883. Slayton House Camp of the Arts, a musical camp for children in grades one through eight, is accepting registration for its three summer sessions: June 22 to July 10, July 13 to 31 and Aug. 3 to 14. Registration forms are available at www.wildelakecommunityassociation.

Each family found a spot on the grass where the folks spread out blankets or set up lawn chairs. There were about 100 people, from infants to seniors, gathered at the Eden Mill Nature Center for an evening program. Some of the families were there to learn, some wanted to be outdoors, while others were there to enjoy the culmination of the event - making s'mores by campfire. "This program gives parents and their children a chance to sit out in nature on a picnic blanket, be out around wildlife and learn at the same time," said Katie Soranno, a summer naturalist at Eden Mill Nature Center for the past two years.

City-church pact to aid homeless Homeless men and women will continue to sleep in the park at the foot of the Jones Falls Expressway, according to a memorandum of understanding between the city and the St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Church. The Baltimore congregation is famous for defying city officials who wanted to eliminate homeless encampments. Arundel rejects hotel tax rise The Anne Arundel County Council rejected a proposal to raise the local hotel tax, bowing to pressure from local and state tourism officials and business owners who said the measure would drive away visitors strapped by the depressed economy.

Reported cases of Lyme disease in Maryland doubled last year and more than tripled in Howard County, leading the county health officer to join state officials yesterday in warning citizens and recommending prevention measures. "We're seeing a dramatic increase in Lyme disease in the area," said Dr. Peter Beilenson, adding that experts believe many cases go unreported. Statewide, the number of reported cases jumped from 1,248 in 2006 to 2,576 last year. In Howard County, the number increased from 113 to 358 during the same period.

More than 2,200 cases of Lyme disease were reported in Maryland last year, almost double the number in 2006 and a record for the state. Although the case reports won't be verified and totaled before April, "the raw numbers are up substantially in 2007. ... The doubling is probably going to be confirmed," said John P. Krick, director of the Office of Epidemiology and Disease Control Programs at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Reports of the tick-borne disease have been climbing for years in Maryland and across the United States.

A few weeks ago, this column was an unrestrained tirade on the subject of deer - focusing on the animals' insidious quest to crash through the windshields of passing motorists. That same day, through no design I'm aware of, another section of The Sun ran a sensitive and sympathetic feature by Abigail Tucker about two Baltimore County women who have made it their mission to protect the adorable white-tailed creatures from the depredations of bloodthirsty hunters. Judging by the e-mail received by Tucker and myself, our readership is rich in Bambi-phobic misanthropes.