The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates the actual prevalence of Lyme disease infections is 10 times higher than the number of reported cases.
“Tick-borne diseases are going up year after year, as the diseases expand to new areas around the country,” Lyle Peterson of the CDC told reporters in a recent conference call announcing the updated infection estimates. Lyme disease accounts for about 80 percent of the tick-borne illnesses in the U.S.
In the spring, tick nymphs — young versions that transmit most of the Lyme infections — are abundant. They’re tiny, no bigger than a pinhead or poppy seed, and tend to hang out in or near wooded areas, in brush or tall grass.
The ticks need a blood meal to stay alive. They tend to feed on small mammals, such as mice, or birds. But if you happen to brush against a stick, blade or stem they’re clinging to, they can easily hitch a ride on you. And you won’t feel a thing.
So, if you’re hiking in or near a wooded area, it’s wise to be on the lookout for nymphs on your skin or clothing when you get home. “They’re small, but they’re not invisible,” Thorne says.
She recommends light-colored clothing (to increase likelihood you’ll notice the darker fleck of an insect) and long sleeves. Insect repellent may help, but Thorne says the most effective strategy is a thorough tick check of your body after you’ve been in tick infested areas.
If you ever think your 12 year old self was an idiot just remember this:
one time when I was in seventh grade I decided to walk home from the community center without wearing any shoes. But it was like 98 degrees outside, so obviously the pavement was hot as balls, but I stubbornly continued to walk home barefoot. Long story short I got second degree burns from the pavement and painful blisters on every part of my feet. When I had to explain to my parents why hell I walked home barefoot I told them that my shoes were hurting my feet. I ended up going to go see doctors, and I wore inserts in my shoes for three years. My parents even considered surgery to fix my feet so that they wouldn’t hurt.
I never had the courage to tell them that the reason why I walked barefoot that one day was not because my feet hurt, but because, being an avid fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender, I had wanted fucking callouses on my feet like Toph
This is why universal programs are important. Every single kid in my school got an eye test through the school at age 10. We just had some opticians come in and take over a room for a week to test every child. Testing for shit like colourblindness too. You need to test every single kid, or some of them will get missed. They might get missed because their parents don’t have vision problems and missed the signs, they might get missed because their parents can’t afford regular opticians visits, they might get missed because their parents couldn’t afford glasses, or couldn’t afford new lenses when a kids’s prescription changed. but they’ll get missed, and that’s really, really bad.
Systemic inability to afford glasses is terrible. I forget how lucky we are here to have the NHS. I mean, my mum hated her big blue NHS glasses, but she had them. And when I got glasses age 14 you got an £80 voucher for kids frames, and then lenses were free. IDK what it’s like now what with the cuts and all, but universal access to basic healthcare is so important.
People underestimate the degree to which kids do badly in school because of vision problems. Personally, if I were helping a child who was failing, it’s one of the first things I’d check.
With wealthier kids who actually get eye exams, and have their vision corrected to 20/20, it’s visual processing problems like difficulty converging at near or processing clutter or tracking. With poorer kids, it can be all of that, or just needing glasses.
And then kids grow up thinking they’re stupid or lazy when really they just can’t see.
Many people don’t think of poor eyesight as a disability, but it is. You don’t have to be legally blind to benefit from accommodations, i e eyeglasses.
This is why it pisses me off when yt leftists say the Black Panthers breakfast program was not “revolutionary enough”. The mere act of surviving is resistance and revolutionary. When everyone wants your children dead, feeding them and ensuring their survival is resistance to the status quo. Fuck yt leftists. Y’all ain’t shit.
good morning everyone have an absolutely furious mongoose
It’s cuter when you recognize that the lion with visible spots is a juvenile. There’s a very high chance the other lion that runs over to investigate is the MOTHER.
The first lion is asking for comfort because she was given a big spook!!! and she needs mommy to tell her it’s safe and ok!!!! (What’s cuter is that mommy clearly reassures her, and goes on to take the parent role of ‘deal with the scream rat in order to protect my large and easily frightened daughter’)
