News Radio 1200 WOAI
There's a triple threat out there, already preying on South Texans. Hot, dry conditions across the region are bringing out mosquitoes. ticks and fleas in search of an easy meal, says Dr. Jane Siegel, a Corpus Christi pediatrician who specializes in children's infectious diseases.
Siegel says these days, we often think first of mosquitoes and ticks whenever a conversation turns to biting insects, but fleas are as much a threat as their fellow bloodsuckers.
She says fleas in Texas can carry murine typhus, a rarely fatal but nonetheless serious malady that's often undiagnosed because of its flu-like symptoms.
Fears of contracting Lyme Disease from ticks in Texas, she says, are unfounded as the indigenous tick varieties do not carry the Lyme bacteria. Cases reported in Texas, she adds, were contracted in other states. Mosquitoes carry a wide range of diseases, from dengue fever and malaria to yellow fever, encephalitis and the Zika virus.
Siegel recommends wearing long pants when outdoors, tucking pant legs into socks or boots and applying insect repellent to trouser legs and footwear to keep fleas and ticks from making you their hosts.
As for combating mosquitoes, she says it's best to keep bare skin to a minimum. If swimming or sunbathing, she says, apply sunscreen first, then insect repellent on top for maximum biting pest protection.
So far, says Siegel, she's seen no indication from the Texas Department of State health Services that the summer will be a particularly bad one for fleas, ticks, mosquitoes or other biting insects.