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Because the symptoms are similar to other disease manifestations, it is sometimes difficult to diagnose Lyme disease. In a recent study, the most obvious symptom, the large red skin rash surrounding the location of the tick bite appeared in only 68% of all cases. The tick bite itself is not often noticed or remembered. At the nymphal stage, when it is most dangerous, the tick is so small - about the size of piece of ground pepper, that most Lyme disease victims do not remember experiencing a bite, or seeing a tick. Blood tests are often inconclusive because the disease generates a weak, and therefore not easily detectable, immune system response. It is difficult to treat if it is not detected early. Early detection and early treatment are the key to recovery.
Q. Is Lyme disease increasing year by year?
Yes. Cases nationally increased from 9,470 in 1991, (the first year the disease was made reportable), to 19,804 in 2004.
Q. Is Lyme disease spreading geographically? And why?
People live in closer proximity to deer (carriers of the adult tick) than previously. Increased deer populations, decreased hunting, and conversion of farms into residential subdivisions with treed lots are all contributors.
Q. Is Lyme disease a problem in all states? Which are the highest incidence states?
Twelve states (Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Wisconsin), account for 95% of the total U.S. cases. The national average was 6.7 per 100,000 people in 2004. In these twelve states, the average was 27.4 cases per 100,000.
Q. How is Lyme disease spread?
The "vector" of Lyme disease (agent of transmission) is the "deer tick", Ixodes scapularis. It was formerly called Ixodes dammini, which is the source of the name Damminix.
Common field mice are the primary reservoir (source of infection) of Lyme disease. If the immature ticks ("larvae" and "nymphs") did not feed on mice, they most likely would never acquire B. burgdorferei, and could not transmit it to us. This is critical to understanding the epidemiology of Lyme disease. It is the basis of the method used by Damminix Tick Tubes, and is the reason the tubes are so effective.
Q. How does Damminix take advantage of this natural cycle?
Damminix turns the field mouse into a tick killer... not as unlikely as it sounds! Mice are always collecting nesting material. We take advantage of this need for nesting material by giving it to them in a form both convenient to administer and effective in transforming mice into tick killers.
Damminix Tick Tubes are short open ended cardboard tubes filled with cotton nesting material. This nesting material is treated with permethrin, a tick killing chemical. Mice find the tubes and collect the cotton to make their nests. The permethrin binds to oils on the fur of the mice. Ticks that attempt to attach are killed, transforming the mice from tick hosts to tick killers. The mice are unharmed.
Q. How do I know it works?
In field tests with a 10-yard grid spacing of Damminix Tick Tubes, 100% of sampled mice had permethrin on their fur.
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