Health officials on alert for tick fever By Cindy Yurth WINDOW
ROCK, May 24, 2012 S ummer is almost here, which means the
Navajo Nation Veterinary and Livestock Program is once again
bracing for an epidemic the Navajo Nation has managed to avoid
for several years through, near as anybody can tell, sheer luck.
Since 2003, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever has been identified in
Arizona. There have been 194 cases and 17 deaths - all Native
Americans living on three reservations near Phoenix, and mostly
children under eight years old. Glenda Davis, head of the
Veterinary and Livestock Program, says it's no mystery why
Arizona's Natives are most susceptible to the sometimes fatal
disease. "It's our culture," she said. "We think we have to let
our dogs run free." The bacterium that causes spotted fever,
Rickettsia rickettsii, is transmitted by ticks, and ticks are
transmitted by dogs. For years, it was thought that only three
species of tick - the deer tick, the Rocky Mountain wood tick
and the Lone Star tick - carried