Preventing tick bites on children is extremely important.  Therefore, it is essential to educate ourselves about the infection, its symptoms, and available treatments.  This takes time, energy, and unlimited patience.  A good support group can help provide pertinent information as well as empathic understanding throughout the course of the infection and recovery.  

Prevention

Although Lyme disease respects no age, ethnicity, or gender, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that children 5 to 14 years of age are at the highest risk of contracting Lyme disease and possible tick-borne co-infections.  This higher incidence is most likely due to the amount of time children spend playing outdoors in the grass, etc.  The Fairfax County VA Health Department recommends the following steps to minimize or prevent tick bites:

•    Use a DEET-based insect repellent.
•    Wear long, loose-fitting, light-colored clothes.
•    Avoid tick-infected areas such as tall grass and dense vegetation.
•    Control ticks around your home.
•    Check for ticks after outdoor activities.
•    Promptly remove attached ticks using fine-tipped tweezers and bring the tick to the local Health Department for identification.

To insure the child's health, tick checks should become a regular part of the outdoor activity, particularly when coming in from outdoors.  The caretaker should diligently search for ticks on a child.  If found, it is essential that, once properly removed, the tick(s) be tested in a laboratory capable of specifying the type of tick and which infections, if any, each may carry. Tick testing can facilitate a correct diagnosis and immediate treatment when needed.

Several websites offer specific information on insect repellents for skin and clothing.  For example: What to Use for Tick Repellent | eHow.com

Diagnosis

Diagnosis of children with Lyme disease is a difficult challenge.  Initial symptoms are non-specific: headaches, fatigue and stomach problems; ailments that are attributable to many conditions.  Joint pain may be dismissed as  growing pains, mood swings as typical adolescent behavior, and behavioral changes as simply a normal part of growing up.  Too often, however, it is not until these symptoms cause serious debilitation and resulting problematic school absences and tardiness, that the real cause is even sought.  Sadly, delayed diagnosis, can allow dissemination of the infection and consequent long-term illness.

Treatment

Antibiotic treatment as soon as Lyme disease is even suspected should be the physician's first response.  If co-infections exist and are persistent, a Lyme specialist may offer various regimes that address the complexity of the infections.  The good news is that many children treated early and aggressively experience a greater return to health than some adult patients.  Youthful resilience may play a role in this increased ability to conquer symptoms.  Parents of children with Lyme disease often stretch to the limit their resources of time, energy and money to help their children. They should be applauded for their tenacity and sacrifices as they face above-average hurdles in launching their children into a life of independence and attainable goals.

Activities to enhance life during the challenging treatment process

In cases where Lyme disease has been misdiagnosed or ineffectively treated, there may be a long-term impact on a child’s physical and social functioning as well as on intellectual development.  Deficits in attention and memory lead to inconsistent school attendance and performance.  According to a NatCapLyme survey, 45 percent of parents of children with Lyme disease report that their children missed school more than one day a week, and 42 percent reported that their children were tardy more than once a week.  

Adolescents present special diagnostic and treatment challenges, since their new-found desire for privacy, normalcy and independence may prevent full-body tick checks by parents and compliance with keeping doctor appointments and taking prescribed medications.  Often Lyme symptoms such as fatigue, slurred speech, and confusion, can be misinterpreted as the consequence of illegal drug or alcohol use.  Sadly, some teenagers do turn to street drugs and alcohol to self-medicate unmanaged neurologic and rheumatologic pain.  

Relationships with friends and family become strained for some young people with Lyme disease.  Some children are confined at home by their illness.  They cease participating in normal activities, such as athletics or hobbies and dating.  Persistent illness affects young persons’ ability to participate in normal rites of passage and subsequently affects their lives.  Parents and daily caregivers are the first line of defense and support for these youngsters.  Understanding and acknowledging their limitations, aspirations, fears, and their physical struggles can help them feel less isolated.  Many parents have formed support groups in which they exchange strategies and techniques to help one another provide the tremendous encouragement, protection, and the mental, spiritual, and physical aid required for their child to return to a healthy, normal childhood.

1NatCapLyme online survey of 1,438 respondents, conducted during July 2010.

Resources

•    Common Childhood Injuries and Poisonings: Lyme Disease Lucile Packard Children's Hospital
•    Evaluate Your Child's Lyme Disease Risk Nemours Foundation
•    Hey! A Tick Bit Me! Nemours Foundation
•    How Do I Watch for Lyme Disease After Removing a Tick? Nemours Foundation
•    Lyme Disease Nemours Foundation
•    Lyme Disease Nemours Foundation
•    Lyme Disease Children's Hospital Boston
•    Tick Bites Nemours Foundation
•    Tick Removal: A Step-by-Step Guide Nemours Foundation