Maine CDC Marks Lyme Disease Awareness Month with ‘Stop. Check. Prevent.’ Campaign

 The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) urges the state’s residents and visitors to focus on tick prevention during May, Lyme Disease Awareness Month.

This year’s Lyme Disease Awareness Month theme is “Stop. Check. Prevent.” The campaign asks Maine people to stop frequently to check for ticks because personal prevention measures are the best way to keep from getting a tickborne disease. Deer ticks in Maine can carry the germs that cause diseases including Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and Borrelia miyamotoi disease. These ticks are most commonly found in wooded, leafy, and shrubby areas, putting most Mainers at risk every day. Anyone spending time outdoors should take steps to limit their exposure to ticks.

Ticks are already active in Maine. The following strategies help prevent exposure to ticks and the diseases they carry:

1. Use caution in areas where ticks may be found.
2. Use an EPA-approved repellent like DEET, picaridin, IR3535, or oil of lemon eucalyptus.
3. Wear light-colored clothing that covers the arms and legs and tuck pants into socks.
4. Perform tick checks daily and after any outdoor activity.

Health care providers reported at least 1,118 confirmed and probable Lyme disease cases to Maine CDC in 2020 (as of March 17, 2021). While this is lower than the record number of cases reported in 2019, tickborne diseases remain a serious threat in Maine.

The most common symptom of Lyme disease is an erythema migrans or “bullseye” rash. Other common symptoms include arthritis, fatigue, chills, fever, headache, and swollen lymph nodes. Some of these symptoms resemble COVID-19 symptoms. If you experience any of these symptoms, make sure to mention a recent tick bite or time spent in tick habitat to a health care provider.

Maine CDC provides many resources to prevent tickborne diseases, including:

• Short educational videos on tick identification, tick checks, tickborne diseases, repellents, and choosing a residential pesticide applicator are available at www.youtube.com/MainePublicHealth.
• A youth tick curriculum for third through eighth grade students to teach kids about tick bite prevention is available at www.maine.gov/dhhs/schoolcurricula.
• Answers to frequently asked questions about ticks and tickborne diseases are available at www.maine.gov/dhhs/tickfaq.
• Tickborne disease data from The Maine Tracking Network (MTN) for Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and babesiosis are available in the Data Portal at data.mainepublichealth.gov/tracking.

For more information on Lyme Disease Awareness Month activities and tickborne diseases, visit www.maine.gov/lyme. Follow Maine CDC on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, for updates throughout the month.

The University of Maine Cooperative Extension Tick Lab offers tick identification and testing to Maine residents. Tick testing is available for $15 with a three-day turnaround time for surveillance purposes only. Contact a health care provider for concerns about tickborne illnesses. Find more information atticks.umaine.edu.

New Program Makes SNAP/EBT Processing Equipment Available to Farmers and Farmers' Markets at No Cost

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Electronic Benefits Transfer card (EBT) equipment is available to agricultural producers and farmers' markets in Maine. Interested producers and farmers markets should visit the Farm Food Access Program (FFAP) website or call the Maine Federation of Farmers' Markets (MFFM) to learn about the options for cost-free equipment. By accepting SNAP/EBT, producers and farmers markets help feed approximately one in eight Mainers participating in the SNAP Program.

The FFAP, developed by the Maine Bureau of Agriculture, Maine Department of Health and Human Services, and MFFM, launched in 2020 to provide more opportunities for individuals and families to purchase local foods with their federal SNAP benefits. FFAP positively benefits Maine's economy by increasing the number of farms and farmers' markets in Maine accepting SNAP benefits. More than $200 million in SNAP food dollars is spent each year by families, seniors, and income-eligible individuals in Maine. Programs such as FFAP enable more farm businesses to participate, increasing the number of sites at which Mainers can use their SNAP benefits.

To date, FFAP has helped more than 30 producers and farmers' markets acquire equipment and accept SNAP transactions. "Our neighbors were so excited that they could keep their SNAP dollars local and support our farm," says Cynthia Turcotte, owner of Applewald Farm. Based in Litchfield, ME, Applewood Farm is one of the many farm stands in the program.

MFFM reports that over $250,000 in federal SNAP benefits were spent with local farms in 2020. MFFM provides additional consultation to interested applicants to attracting new customers using SNAP to their markets and farm stands. "Due to the pandemic, we saw record numbers of SNAP sales being spent on local food. People preferred to shop in less crowded and open-air places, when possible," says Jimmy DeBiasi, the Director of Programs at MFFM. "The timing of FFAP has been remarkable, as it offered people who shop with SNAP new places to access fresh, local, and healthy food in safe environments."

Learn more about the Farm Food Access Program and access the online application form.

Maine Moose Lottery – Deadline – Thursday, May 13^th  

The 2021 Maine moose permit lottery application process is open! Applications for the moose permit lottery are accepted online only. 

To apply online, go to mefishwildlife.com and fill out the online moose permit application. There, you will be able to indicate several preferences, including which wildlife management districts (WMD) you are willing to accept a permit in, and if you would accept a permit in another WMD if your name is drawn and all of your top choices are filled. You will also be able to select your preferred hunting season, whether or not you would accept an antlerless permit, and your choice of a sub-permittee.

New in 2021, the Department is proposing an adaptive unit hunt to determine if lowering the moose population density in the western side of WMD 4 can lessen the impacts of winter tick. Applicants will be asked if they want to apply for an adaptive unit hunt permit when completing the application. 

Applications must be completed by 11:59 pm (ET) on May 13, 2021.

The virtual 2021 moose lottery permit drawing will take place June 12, 2021.

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