What do you do after a tick bite?
Now is the time of year when tick bites are common. “We’ve been seeing an increase in (emergency room) visits,” Lind said.
She said you don’t have to seek medical attention for all tick bites, just when your skin appears to be infected, red or swollen.
Where are ticks found?
Nicole Chinnici, the director of the Dr. Jane Huffman Wildlife Genetics Institute at East Stroudsburg University, said ticks like moist, cool conditions and that’s when they are prevalent on taller grasses.
“Ticks are more active in the morning,” she said about the cooler, wet time of the day.
Gardeners, anglers and hikers all have at least one thing in common this time of year concerns about ticks.
These little arachnids can be a significant problem for people venturing outdoors. Ticks can be more than just a nuisance since they also can spread disease.
This fact may be the most widely known in Pennsylvania, which has had the most cases of Lyme disease from ticks in the country every year since 2011.
Leah Lind, the Lyme and Tick Borne Disease coordinator within the Pennsylvania Bureau of Epidemiology at the Department of Health, feels the numbers for infections during last year might be lower than 2019 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
What is already known about this topic?
Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) has increased as part of the U.S. opioid crisis, but no national NAS surveillance system exists, and data about the accuracy of state-based surveillance are limited.
What is added by this report?
Among infants with confirmed NAS at five Pennsylvania hospitals, ICD-10-CM code P96.1 was assigned to 71% of those who were reported to the NAS surveillance system and 78% of those who were not reported to surveillance.
What are the implications for public health practice?
Accurate NAS surveillance, which is necessary to monitor changes and regional differences in incidence and assist with planning for needed services, includes a combination of diagnosis code assessment and focused medical record review.