The Health Report of Martha's Vineyard, is a first-of-its-kind comprehensive health study conducted on the Vineyard.

The report is the culmination of a collaborative venture that was supported by nearly every health care organization on the Vineyard, including the Martha's Vineyard Hospital, Martha's Vineyard Community Services, the Dukes County Health Council, Hospice of Martha's Vineyard and the Foundation for Island Health. The six-month project, which took place in 2002 and 2003, included a random sampling of more than 5,000 full-time and part-time Island residents from all six towns and interviews with

every health provider on the Vineyard.

The survey did not include children or the non-English speaking population on the Vineyard.

The result is a detailed scientific profile of health and health behaviors for the adult population here.

The report was directed by Dr. Diane Becker, a professor of medicine and director of the Center for Health Promotion at

Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md.

The response rate to the survey was extraordinarily high - 49 per cent of full-time residents and 22 per cent of part-time residents returned the 26-page detailed surveys that included

no open-ended questions save one.

"Never in my entire 25 years of doing research have I seen better than 10 per cent," Dr. Becker said. She said the survey can be accurately extrapolated to the general population of the Vineyard.

Among other things the survey found the Vineyard is an incubator for tick diseases. A fifth of the full-time population and a tenth of the part-time population reported having a tick-borne disease. A little over 12 per cent of full-time residents reported having Lyme disease.

She said the incidence of tick diseases should sound an alarm.

More than a tenth of the part-time population had

experienced a tick borne disease.

This was extraordinarily high compared to both the State of Massachusetts overall, and compared to the US population.

The problem also includes Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tularemia, and other generally rare diseases, like babesiosis.

"It says that it's worse than anyone thinks it is - if you apply it to the total population on the Vineyard, 12 out of every 100 people have had Lyme disease,"she said.

            The cycle of Lyme disease

Most cases of Lyme disease occur in the spring and summer months, when ticks in the nymph stage are feeding. Symptoms tend to appear spring through autumn, creating what some call a "Lyme season." (Adult female ticks feed in autumn and early winter months and can also carry the bacteria.)

A person is more likely to get the disease during the spring and summer because a lot of time is spent outside, often with large amounts of skin exposed.

Avoiding areas where deer ticks and western black-legged ticks live reduces the chance of infection. Deer ticks and western black-legged ticks live in wooded, brushy and grassy places, including lawns and gardens.

While outdoors, a few simple precautions can reduce your chance of being bitten:

    * Wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts to minimize skin exposure to ticks.

    * Tuck your pants into your socks to form a barrier to tick attachment.

    * Wear light-colored clothing to help see ticks on your clothing.

1. *Check for ticks, looking particularly for what may look like nothing more than a new freckle or speck of dirt.
   

THE ROLE OF THE WHITE FOOTED MOUSE

Unlike the house mouse, the white-footed mouse is not found in cities but is associated more with rural areas and buildings located in or near wooded areas. It does not commonly invade homes, but on occasion, one or more white-footed mice may invade a particular building.

Lyme Disease

The white-footed mouse is a medically important species because it is a key host for blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis and Ixodes

pacificus), which carry and transmit Lyme disease.

These ticks that cause Lyme Disease are very small.
The adult ticks and nymphs are active from May thru July.
The adult ticks may be active on warm days from August to May and can be infectious.
They inhabit woods and fields, and occur on both deer and mice.

Tick Prevention

on the Cape and Islands

4-Poster Deer Station Project Update

click for updates

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090317/NEWS/903170318

'4-Poster'

Deer Treatment Bait Station

http://www.aldf.com/fourPoster.shtml

The Martha’s Vineyard Lyme Disease Association

is a 501 (c) 3 public charity organization.

For more information or to make a contribution contact

The Martha’s Vineyard Lyme Disease Association, Inc.

1. mvlyme@vineyard.net