Why You Should Check for Ticks after Every Walk

Transcript

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HOST: You're listening to North Star Stories: Voices from Where We Live, a daily newscast about what it means to live in Minnesota.

ANCHOR: Today, Federal cuts may shake Greater Minnesota manufacturers. Then, why you should check for ticks after every walk this summer. And, a new meat-packing plant brings on-the-job training to central Minnesota.

I'm Gracie J.

Minnesota's small- to mid-size manufacturers want federal funding to continue a program that helps them grow their businesses. The future of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, or M-E-P, is uncertain after the Trump administration tried to effectively end the program in ten states earlier this year. Minnesota was not on the list but it's due for a renewal of MEP funds at the end of this year. Cuts to this funding could hit Greater Minnesota especially hard as smaller companies in these regions tend to rely on MEP funding for business support.

In today's main story, ticks are waiting in the grass for their next meal to walk past. And every summer, more Minnesotans are suffering from their effects. Here's Britt Aamodt with the story.

Britt Aamodt: Holly Zelinsky's mystery illness hit suddenly.

Holly Zelinsky: I started having pain when I bent my fingers.

Britt Aamodt: This was 2015. The busy business owner, wife and mom wasn't old enough for arthritis to seem likely. Then it progressed.

Holly Zelinsky: I woke up one morning and thought, I don't feel good. And by that evening, I was crying in bed, saying, There's something really wrong with me.

Britt Aamodt: All her joints hurt. She was having heart palpitations and sleeping 18 hours a day. She saw doctors. But it took 13 months for a correct diagnosis. She had Lyme disease given to her by the bite of a deer tick.

Holly Zelinsky: I didn't know I was bitten by the tick. I didn't ever pull a tick off of me, and I didn't have the ring that everybody talks about.

Britt Aamodt: The bullseye rash only appears in about 70% of cases, and even then, you might not see it if the bite is on your scalp or back. Minnesota is home to 12 tick species.

Elizabeth Schiffman: Some of them are of more concern when it comes to disease transmission than others.

Britt Aamodt: Elizabeth Schiffman is supervisor of the Vectorborne Diseases Unit at the Minnesota Department of Health. Schiffman says the most common disease carriers are the wood tick and the deer tick. Her department has been tracking a rise in cases.

Elizabeth Schiffman: The trend overall is kind of an increase over time. So we just keep finding more and more of these diseases, and we keep seeing them in expanding areas of the state. We have anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and then there's also Powassan virus.

Britt Aamodt: The most common is Lyme. Minnesota is among the top 10 states for the disease transmitted by the deer tick. In 2022, the most recent year data was collected, there were nearly 2700 cases.

Jon Oliver: The most important thing to do is to get the tick off.

Britt Aamodt: Jon Oliver is an associate professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Minnesota.

Jon Oliver: The longer the tick remains attached, the more likely it is to transmit any pathogens that are in its body into your body.

Britt Aamodt: Oliver says grab it with tweezers or fingers as close to the skin as possible and pull straight out. Vaseline, matches and alcohol are no longer recommended for removal.

Jon Oliver: Make sure that you don't develop any symptoms within a few weeks of that tick bite, and so if you develop flu-like symptoms, definitely go tell your doctor.

Britt Aamodt: The good news is that most ticks don't carry disease. But the best defense is prevention, says Holly Zelinsky, whose Lyme disease was cured with antibiotics. A big pointer: Always do a tick check.

Holly Zelinsky: It's just so important that Minnesotans check for ticks every single time they come in.

Britt Aamodt: For North Star Stories, this is Britt Aamodt.

ANCHOR: You are listening to North Star Stories.

A unique partnership is bringing jobs and job training to Central Minnesota. Minnesota Farmers Union recently broke ground on an eight-thousand-square-foot meat processing plant in Staples. It's part of the Union's three-tiered plan to help local farmers regain control of livestock markets, solve processing bottlenecks, and build rural economies. Along with creating new jobs, Farmers Union Processing and Meats will also partner with Central Lakes and Ridgewater Colleges to train students in meat processing and butchery. The facility is set to open in January of next year.

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HOST: North Star Stories is produced by AMPERS, diverse radio for Minnesota's communities, with support from the McKnight Foundation and the State of Minnesota. Online at ampers dot org.