File this under gross.

[WLLady]

There are several potentially bad bacteria. There are bacteria that do not breath oxygen-if they get under your skin they can grow very happily without the normal competition that keeps them in check. The other is called staphylococcus aureus. It can come in different types and the one that is dangerous is resistant to most common antibiotics. MRSA is multiple resistance staph aureus or the flesh eating disease you hear about in hospitals.

[Epona]

Tick invasion is beyond belief down in our area. I swear by the 3 Guinea fowl that we have on patrol for the lawns and gardens. The Pyreness, because he does all the fields and bush was massively infected with tick bites despite having had Revolution drops since March. That's when the damn things showed up here. I was scrubbing him down with iodine scrub and tea tree oil to no avail. Then running insanely to the house shower, leaving all my clothes outside to be tossed into bleach solution. I declared defeat by May. The vets gave us a tablet for him to ingest. Keeps them tick free for 12 weeks. Terrified of what I may be doing to that dog in the long run. Must be some form of poison in that tablet. But, I can't imagine him surviving otherwise.

[Happy]

Tick invasion is beyond belief down in our area. I swear by the 3 Guinea fowl that we have on patrol for the lawns and gardens. The Pyreness, because he does all the fields and bush was massively infected with tick bites despite having had Revolution drops since March. That's when the damn things showed up here. I was scrubbing him down with iodine scrub and tea tree oil to no avail. Then running insanely to the house shower, leaving all my clothes outside to be tossed into bleach solution. I declared defeat by May. The vets gave us a tablet for him to ingest. Keeps them tick free for 12 weeks. Terrified of what I may be doing to that dog in the long run. Must be some form of poison in that tablet. But, I can't imagine him surviving otherwise.

I'm for weighing which thing is worse...the devil you know or the devil you don't. After a summer of the beagle's tick magnetism and the lab's severe flea and tick allergies we gave in and give them the monthly "treats" to protect them.

[windwalkingwolf]

I've found that the drops are only lasting about 2 weeks on my dogs, with all the rain we're getting.

[Epona]

My poor brother is one of the few surveyors left that works for MTO. He is phobic about ticks, been tested so many times for various diseases. MTO put out a statement to the staff saying in less than 5 years, ticks will be at an epidemic level. So who ever is doing the amazingly successful rain dances, they need to switch to making a couple wickedly frigid old fashion winters.

[Skinny rooster]

Guy at work has been off sick for weeks now, big strong guy and he was really taken out of commission by the illness, finally finally finally after weeks of not knowing what is wrong, he tested positive for Lyme disease. He lives in the city! Another guy I work with, also living in the city, was mowing his lawn felt something crawling on him, thought it was a black fly, turned out to be a tick. Scary stuff.

[windwalkingwolf]

About 5 years ago my son called me from the bathroom to ask how to remove an embedded tick...it had buried it's head in his, er, tip of the genital area. That is one spot you probably shouldn't be spraying Muskol on.

[kenya]

Both my brother and husband have had lyme disease, my husband took longer to diagnosis as they kept telling him it was reumatoid arthritis which it kind of mimics. I said no way was it arthritis had him go to a different Doctor and even then had to tell the Doctor what we wanted him to treat him for. At that time physicians didn't believe it was in ontario and tons of people were treated for arthritis. Even the goverment refused to believe lyme disease was here and gave physicians a hard time for treating it as such. No test up here at that time in Canada to prove it. My brother had the rash bullseye which is the classic sign and sent him home with a cream for a rash. I had him go back to the Doctors and have them look up signs and symptoms of lyme disease they said oh your right and treated him for lyme disease. In my husbands case because it was fairly new there was no known general cure but I found on the internet someone in the states who was having success treating it with a certain antibiotic for a month. Our physician said he was game to try it and it worked.

[Epona]

I remember those early days. A friend of ours worked for OMFRA. Was never properly diagnosed till too late. Permanent brain and spine damage. His wife fought the government for years to get workman's comp and disability insurance. Two young children. That was back in the 1980s. They've come a long way in respecting this illness and acknowledging it.

[Eggsaggerate]

One of my neighbours had her property dragged last summer and the ticks/nymphs they caught tested for Lime. Of the 120 or so they caught, 60% were positive. Now the medical community in Ottawa has recognized that the disease is here. Our local medical centre will test and treat for it. I have even seen tick testing kits in the drug store so you can test ticks you pick off animals or people.