Now, instead of shorts in the garden, he wears long-sleeved shirts and pants tucked into socks with his tall Hunter rubber boots, even in the dead of summer. “It’s definitely less carefree,” he said.
Indeed, parents sending their children away for summer camp have new worries and swap information on which camps are tick ready. Anne Fahey-Storment, a founder of NFHF Projects, a public relations and communications company, sent her daughter to a camp in the Berkshires only after she carefully vetted it for a tick action plan.
“They spray the grounds, cut the grass short, and they have the campers walk on a clearly marked path,” she said. Ms. Fahey-Storment, who also visited the grounds, noted that the camp has “a great health center on site, where they are very sensitive to any bites, rashes, etc.”
If all of this seems like a lot of hyperventilating, Max DeShaw, an infectious disease specialist in Florham Park, N.J., said that he has seen a rise in the number of Lyme cases in his practice compared with five years ago. The worst situations are those that go undiagnosed, Dr. DeShaw said. “Early detection of Lyme disease is the most important way to cure it — the earlier the better,” he said.
Lyme is treatable and usually responds to antibiotics. But tales of untreated cases or post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS) have cast a pall over summer escapades. “I’ve had some patients for over 20 years, and I’m still treating them,” Dr. DeShaw said.
Ms. Niven, whose Lyme disease went undiagnosed for more than a year, has used a combination of Western and Eastern therapies, she said. She looked for alternative options, including some common ones, like infrared sauna and lymphatic drainage, and lesser-known options, like ozone therapy, glutathione IV and phosphatidyl supplements.
