Page 4 - Christiana Care Focus June July 2018

Cover Story |
Christiana Care’s Summer Survival Guide:
Plan ahead to stay safe outdoors
Summertime is about being active, having fun and enjoying the great outdoors. But the season is not without its hazards. Whether you’re a hiker, a swimmer or a backyard grill master, follow these tips from Christiana Care experts to enjoy a healthy, happy summer.
MB u g , o ff !
osquitoes can be the bane of summer fun. They’re annoying, and they can also transmit diseases.
“When I go out on the back patio in the evening, I actually use three methods to
repel mosquitoes,” said Linda Laskowski Jones, APRN, MS, ACNS-BC, CEN, FAWM, FAAN,
vice president of emergency and trauma services at Christiana Care. As a fellow in the Academy of Wilderness Medicine with lots
of experience in wilderness survival and
rescue, she knows what works in keeping mosquitoes at bay.
Mosquitoes can be more than pests. In this area of the U.S., they can transmit West Nile virus, which might not cause any symptoms in most people, but can cause a severe brain infection in rare cases. People traveling to areas outside the U.S. this summer should also be aware that mosquitos can carry diseases such as Zika, malaria and Dengue fever,
so protection is important.
Triple threat: Your recipe for mosquito defense
Scents
When it comes to mosquitoes, anything with a scent, even a simple candle, can act as a repellent, said Jones.
Clothing
Clothing infused with a chemical called permethrin can keep bugs off without a spray. Because the chemical is dry, said Jones, it isn’t absorbed into your skin. You can buy clothing — including pants, hats, shirts and socks — infused with permethrin, or you can buy the chemical and use it on clothes you already own.
Bug Spray
Jones recommends using commercial insect repellant containing either picaridin or 25 percent DEET.
2 CHRISTIANA CARE HEALTH SYSTEM
To prevent Lyme, find ticks in time
The most common insect-borne disease in Delaware comes from a bug that’s harder to spot but is just as easy to repel.
Harold Kramer, M.D., of the Christiana Care Medical Aid Unit at Glasgow, said the first place to look for Lyme disease is at a calendar. If it’s the summer, far from peak flu season, flu-like symptoms such as fever, headache and muscle pain are more likely to be Lyme disease.
But it can be difficult to spot signs of the illness, which is carried by a bacterium that infects deer ticks, he said. Lyme disease’s
classic bullseye rash with
clear concentric circles appears in some patients but not everyone.