[Leica] Lyme disease - formerly deer in winter

[lrzeitlin at gmail.com (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

Steve Barbour writes:

"Watch out for Lyme disease."

- - - - - -

Steve,

Thanks for the warning about Lyme disease but it comes nearly 20 years too
late. I was unfortunate enough to be the first in the neighborhood to
contract Lyme disease. I felt aches, chills and exhibited the symptoms of a
bad case of flu. At that time Lyme disease was a rarity in our area and most
physicians were treating it as early onset arthritis. Fortunately my wife
saw an article in a scientific journal that discussed the disease and had
illustrations of the bulls eye rings often found around the tick bite. I had
a full blown target on my back. Article in hand, I convinced my physician
that I indeed had Lyme disease and received the usual therapy of a week's
dose of antibiotics. It appeared to do the trick. A couple of years later my
wife and I participated in the test phase of a Lyme disease vaccine study by
GlaxoSmithKline. Apparently the vaccine worked well enough to be marketed
but it was later withdrawn because of side effects.


By this time most of the people in the neighborhood had also been infected
and the local physicians were old hands at treating the illness. Some had
very severe cases and could barely walk. Others had CNS infections,
requiring IV drips of antibiotics.


The basic problem seems to be the large increase in the deer population in
the Northeast. With no natural  predators, little game hunting, and friendly
butcher shops which sell highly processed cow meat, there are more deer in
the Northeast than there were before the white men came. Far too many. The
deer have left the deep woods and are now roaming suburbia in search of
nicely planted shrubbery. Hungry deer will eat anything green except
daffodils and andromeda. I have seen them munch on plastic flowers that my
wife stuck into her garden after the real ones were devoured.


We live in a narrow developed zone between two large "forever wild" state
parks. The deer use our area as a corridor between feeding grounds. It is
strange to contemplate such a primeval environment within a one hour
commuter trip to New York City but that's the way it is. Travel 50 miles
north or west of Gotham and you have traveled a century back in time. Given
the high price of groceries, I would like to shoot one of Bambi's offspring
to stock the freezer but there are laws against hunting out of season. One
of my less particular neighbors cleans and dresses recent roadkill for the
table. He claims that it is fresher than the meat sold in the supermarket.
So all I do now is "shoot " the deer with my camera. And check myself
regularly for ticks.


Larry Z