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Show Public Cautioned Against Danger Of Spotted Fever i Twelve cases of Rocky mountain spotted fever were reported to the Utah state board of Hiealth during the year 1937. Four of the patients died. These cases were reported from widely scattered areas throughout the state including includ-ing Iron, Juab, Kane, Rich, Salt Lake, San Pete, Uintah, Utah ano Weber counties. The average incidence in-cidence for the state during the .past ten years has been eight cases with three deaths. While the principal stronghold of spotted fever is in the Rocky mountain area, cases have also occurred in some of the eastern states, particularly parti-cularly those along the Atlantic coast. The disease is transmitted to man by the bite of infected ticks. The two principal species responsible respon-sible for the spread of the disease are the dermacentor andersoni or wood tick of the Rocky mountain area and the dermacentor variabilis varia-bilis o.r dog tick of the east. Fortunately, For-tunately, not many ticks are infected in-fected with spotted fever, but tht disease is so serious in man that every precaution should be take?, to guard against a tick bite. The tick season begins in April and extends through May, June, July and part of August. When they first appear they are unfed and they attach themselves to tau grass, iDusnes, sageorusn, etc.. so that Ithey can drop on some passing animal or man and fill up on blood. The tfck does not attach at-tach itself at once, but usually crawls abioufc for awhile, finally embedding itself in some hairy place such as the hack of the head or arm pits. I For this reason it is a safe practice prac-tice when out in tick-infested areas to examine one's clothing ami Body at least twice daily and remove re-move the parasites before they become be-come attached to the skin. When possible, camp sites should be chosen in open places away from tall grass, bushes and sage, preferably pre-ferably in standing timber where there is little underbrush. Proximity Proxi-mity to trails and old roads should be avoided. The wearing of high top shoes, leggings, puttees, put-tees, or the wearing of the socks outside the trouser legs is advisable. advis-able. Occasionally passing the hand over one's neck to feel for ticks is a good habit to acquire Upon retiring at night the clothing cloth-ing should be checked over carefully care-fully and a careful search made oi the entire body surface for the presence of ticks. Ticks may be removed with the fingers by a steady straight pull as a twisting motion is apt to detach de-tach his head. A better plan is to remove them with a small forceps or tweezers. With these the tick may be seized by the head close to the skin and easily removed. re-moved. If the head remains em,-bedded em,-bedded it is advisable to use a razor blade or a sharp knife which has been sterilized and cut away, sufficient skin to remove it. Care should be exercised against crushing the tick on the skin as the contents of an infected tick are very dangerous. After handling hand-ling ticks the hands should be washed thoroughly with soap anu water. It is advisable for those going into areas known to be in- fested with diseased ticks to be vaccinated. Two or three inoculations inocula-tions with the vaccine gives a protection pro-tection usually sufficient to last through one tick season, but the immunity is not permanent and should be repeated each year. Vaccine will be furnished free ot charge to all physicians in Salt Lake City and vicinity by the Utalj state board of health. Physicians in other parts of the state should secure vaccine from the public health laboratory at Hamilton Montana. Occasionally persons who have been inoculated develop Spotted fever but the symptoms are very light and recovery more rapid than without the protection. |