A CALL FOR ACTION

To the editor:

Writing a letter of appreciation for my health care during my recent serious illness due to Babesiosis was the easy part. Trying to compose a letter which will communicate a sense of urgency and hope for action in significantly reducing the deer population on Nantucket is more difficult.

As a member of the National Wildlife Foundation and a lover of nature, I am not a wild-eyed anti-deer proponent. I am, however, an educated health professional who would, but for the grace of God, be dead today due to Babesiosis. I am sure I am not alone in suffering serious consequences to a tick-borne disease. I suspect there are very few Nantucket residents who do not know someone who has had Lyme disease, Babesiosis, or Ehrlichiosis. I wonder what it will take for Nantucket residents to seriously consider the public health problems that tick-borne diseases represent to this community?

It is apparent that there is not agreement that a public health problem exists on Nantucket. As shown, for example, by the recent reluctance to extend the deer hunting season on Nantucket, for whatever reason. Until there is recognition that the tick diseases pose a significant danger for residents, there is no hope of finding creative solutions to reducing the deer population.

The 2005 statistics from the Communicable Disease Center (a Federal Agency), which are the most recent available, show that the incidence of tick borne diseases in Massachusetts is 36.5 cases per 100,000 people. The assumption is that on Nantucket it is significantly higher. The national average is 7.9 cases per 100,000 people.

The Nantucket Board of Health reports that there were 93 cases of tickborne diseases reported from July, 2006 to July, 2007. Dr.Timothy Lepore reports that this year he has treated 85 patients with tick-borne diseases.

I am aware that a variety of solutions to the problem have been proposed and rejected by the residents. I suggest a more concerted effort be made to find creative means of controlling the deer population. I hope that we will be able to find a process that will decrease the incidence of disease and be acceptable to all residents. I think the time has come to address this issue.

Sincerely,

- Laura Mueller