Start of Lyme Disease Season Provides Heightened Risks for Americans Wanting to Go Outdoors After a Year of COVID-19 Restrict...
April 05 2021 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
Quidel Corporation, the Nation’s Leading
Developer of Rapid Lyme Disease Testing, Cautions Americans to be
Vigilant, Take Precautions and Get Tested if in Doubt
As America slowly and hopefully extricates itself from the
coronavirus pandemic, another health concern lies just around the
corner: the start of Lyme disease season. To complicate matters,
Lyme disease is one of the distinct underlying conditions that make
those afflicted more vulnerable for coronavirus complications.
“The warm weather of spring and summer makes everyone want to
get outdoors and never more so than this year when so many of us
have spent the past 12 months hunkered down in our own homes,” says
Judi Tilghman, Ph.D., vice president of technology assessment at
Quidel Corporation, the nation’s leading developer of rapid Lyme
disease testing. “The key is to be smart in taking steps to avoid
getting a tick bite in the first place and then getting tested
immediately if you think you may have contracted Lyme.”
Lyme disease afflicts as many as 400,000 Americans every year
and can lead to a number of serious, life-threatening problems if
not caught early. The challenge is that unlike a mosquito bite
where people know immediately if they have been bitten, deer ticks
that may carry Lyme disease are tiny—the size of a poppy seed—and
symptoms may not appear for two to six weeks. That makes it
critically important that anyone who spends time outdoors in
heavily wooded areas—hikers, hunters, campers—or travels to such
places be particularly vigilant.
Some of the basic symptoms of a Lyme infection—fever, malaise,
fatigue, muscle aches and headaches—can resemble COVID-19, which,
according to Dr. Tilghman, is “still another reason to get tested
if you feel any of these symptoms coming on. The vast majority of
patients tested are negative, so getting results quickly with
Quidel’s Sofia® 2 Lyme FIA test can provide peace of mind for
individuals while also allowing physicians to more rapidly pursue
testing and treatment for other diseases that may be causing the
patient’s symptoms.”
While Dr. Tilghman acknowledges that a walk in the woods, a
return to playing outdoor sports on grassy fields, or camping by a
river or lake is an appealing way to relieve stress from the
coronavirus lockdown, she warns that such activities do come with
the risk of ticks that carry Lyme and other illnesses. For anyone
who intends to spend time in wooded/grassy areas during the height
of Lyme disease season, she recommends:
- Shower right away as ticks often remain on skin for
hours before attaching themselves. Showering and using a washcloth
can remove unattached ticks.
- Check your entire body for ticks, including
low-visibility areas such as the groin, underarms and the back of
your neck. If you find a tick on your body, use a pair of tweezers
to pull it off very gently but firmly.
- Watch for early signs which may include a rash (often
shaped like a bullseye), flu-like symptoms, fever, body aches,
headache and fatigue.
- Watch for later symptoms, which could appear weeks or
months after being bitten. These may include a rash on areas of
your body, joint pain, neurological problems, heart problems (such
as an irregular heartbeat), eye inflammation, liver inflammation
(hepatitis) and severe fatigue.
- Get to a doctor or clinic right away, and ask to
be tested if you sense you might have Lyme disease. The innovative
Sofia 2 Lyme FIA test is an in-office test that provides indicative
results within minutes as opposed to days, which has historically
been the norm. Performed in the privacy of a doctor’s office or
local clinic, it is also the only test that can get results from a
simple finger prick of blood.
The best solution, of course, is to not get a tick bite in the
first place; and there are many precautions people can take to
lessen the chance of getting bitten. Dr. Tilghman says these
include: wearing long pants and shirts, a hat and gloves when in
wooded areas; sticking to trails and avoid walking through low
bushes and long grass; putting lavender oil or insect repellants on
your legs and arms and any bare skin; and tick proofing your yard
by clearing brush and leaves and mowing your lawn regularly.
About Quidel Corporation
Quidel Corporation (Nasdaq: QDEL) is a leading manufacturer of
diagnostic solutions at the point of care, delivering a continuum
of rapid testing technologies that further improve the quality of
health care throughout the globe. An innovator for over 40 years in
the medical device industry, Quidel pioneered the first rapid
diagnostic point-of-care test for influenza in 1999 and was the
first to market a rapid SARS-CoV-2 antigen test in the U.S. Under
trusted brand names, Sofia®, Solana®, Lyra®, Triage® and QuickVue®,
Quidel’s comprehensive product portfolio includes tests for a wide
range of infectious diseases, cardiac and autoimmune biomarkers, as
well as a host of products to detect COVID-19. With products made
in America, Quidel’s mission is to provide patients with immediate
and frequent access to highly accurate, affordable testing for the
good of our families, our communities and the world. For more
information about Quidel, visit quidel.com.
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Jim Yeager 818.264.6812 (mobile) jim@breakwhitelight.com
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