Summer

Prevention

1. Teach your child not to swallow water when swimming.
2. Keep your child out of water if he has pink eye, diarrhea, or other contagious infections.
3. Now, take a shower with soap and warm water.
4. Don’t let your child in water if he has open draining wounds
5. Take younger child to bathroom frequently to avoid accidents in water.

Encourage your child to wash hands after using the bathroom.

Water Safety

• Learning CPR can be a useful skill, which can come quite handy at times. Look for classes in your area.

Contact Dermatitis –Poison Ivy, etc.

See “Fall Advisory”

Sun Protection

• Use sun block creams with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 15. As per the current recommendations of American Academy of Pediatrics, sun block can be used even in children six months or younger.
• Keep children out of the bright sun during the hottest part of the day (usually 10 AM to 2 PM)

Prevention of Swimmers Ear

• Make sure cerumen is not blocking the ear canal before swimming resumes.
• After swimming put half-dropper full of solution (½ alcohol + ½ white vinegar) in each ear – A commercial preparation called Swim-Ear may also be used

Tick Bites & Lyme Disease

Brief Information:

Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi, which is transmitted by deer ticks that are the size of a pinhead, dark brown in color and hard to see. The more common wood tick or dog tick does not carry Lyme disease, which is larger in size. It is not contagious. It occurs most commonly between the months of March to October.

The likelihood of passing on the infection depends on how long a tick was attached to your skin. For Lyme disease to be transmitted, the tick needs to be attached for 24-48 hours.

What to do when you get a tick bite?

1. Tick removal: the best way to remove a tick is to pull it off by the help of tweezers, by grasping the tick as close to the skin as possible.
   – Lab Corp: tick can be dead or alive (DO NOT put in alcohol);
   – Quest: tick must be dead (put in 70% alcohol)
2. You do not need to save the tick for positive identification because by the naked eye it is difficult to differentiate between the different types of ticks by their size and appearance. Secondly, the analysis of ticks to determine whether they are infected or not is not indicated because the predictive value of such tests in terms of causing the Lyme disease in human is unknown. (But information is provided for identifying if the tick carries bacteria)
3. For the blood test to be positive for Lyme disease it may take 3 to 6 weeks; hence it is not indices to do these tests immnediately after a tick bite.
4. Prophylactic: Rx is not recommended as it may mask symptoms and patient may not complete full dose of treatment, when necessary. Thus Lyme disease is neither prevented nor healed with Prophylactic Rx.
5. Observation: Hence, the best course of action after a tick bite is to closely observe the patient for ealry signs of Lyme disease, which are as follows:
   A. A characteristic skin rash (Bull’s eye rash) which begins at the site of the tick bite, a red papule and expands during days to weeks to form a large circular red lesion that is 5 cm (0.25″) or more in diameter, sometimes with partial clearing in the center.
   B. Fever and/ or chills.
   C. Muscle pains and joint pain.
   D. Headache, mild neck stiffness.
   E. Unusual fatigue.

If child develops any of the above symptoms they should be brought to the office for further evaluation and treatment.

Prevention:

1. Avoiding exposure to ticks by limiting outdoor activity in wooded areas, wearing protective clothing, frequently checking for ticks, and using tick repellent.
2. Remember, there is no vaccine anymore.

Testing:

(please note information below may change, please let us know if you have new data)

Lyme Disease
1110 Somerset Street
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Phone: 732-249-0148

Costs (2009):

1. $60
2. $175 if tick is crushed.

Please contact our office if you have any doubt or questions
Thank you and have a Pleasant Summer