Kate Colby is a Portland-based field epidemiologist for the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Infectious Epidemiology Program. The 33-year-old Colby, an Alabama native who moved to Maine when she was 10, will be in Freeport July 17 to give a general presentation for the community on tick and mosquito-borne infections. Some 16,000 Americans are diagnosed with Lyme disease annually and mosquito-borne infections such as West Nile and Eastern equine encephalitis are on the rise.

Colby recently took a few minutes to speak with the Tri-Town Weekly on the perils of the woods, the security of high socks, and what people can do to prevent disease as the summer heats up.

Q: What will your presentation focus on in Freeport?

A: I’m going to be discussing primarily tick and mosquito-borne infections such as Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and also mosquito-borne diseases such as West Nile and Eastern equine encephalitis.

Q: How would you define what you do?

A: A little background about our program: we have a wide variety of epidemiologists that test on an annual basis for certain diseases, which is required by law. We also provide data to the national Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta to see if we can notice trends.

Q: What diseases specifically?

A: All of the infectious diseases fall into certain categories. For example, we investigate food-borne diseases such as salmonella and e coli, and vaccine-preventable diseases such as whooping cough, measles, mumps and chicken pox. We also investigate, as I mentioned, tick and mosquito-borne diseases, but also things like tuberculosis.

Q: In what area do you direct your vigilance now that its summer? Mostly tick-borne illness?

A: Well, we monitor for all these infections year round, but there are seasonality aspects of the monitoring. In the winter, we’ll look at respiratory illnesses and in the summer it’s more water-borne and mosquito and tick-borne illness.

Q: Is the rate of people contracting Lyme disease going up or down?

A: It’s going up in the state of Maine and the trend is up nationally, as well. As you’re probably aware, most of the burden is in the northeast and mid-Atlantic, though there have been cases all over. In Maine, the rate has been steadily increasing. For example, in 2005 we had 670 cases reported and in 2011, we had 1,011 cases reported. So that number has increased dramatically and it’s something we’re quite concerned about.

Q: Short of never going outside, what can people do to protect themselves from Lyme disease?

A: There are a number of things people can do, but it requires multi-faceted steps. We have started a program called No Tick For Me campaign. The first thing is for people to wear protective clothing. Ticks don’t fly, they crawl or drop from trees above you, so the best thing you can do is to protect your skin by wearing heavier clothes or by tucking your pant legs into your socks. We also recommend wearing light-colored clothing because ticks are dark and it’s easier to spot them. We also suggest using an insect repellent that is approved for repelling ticks. We urge caution when you are in tick-infested areas, which in Maine means anytime you’re outside working in the yard, hiking through woods, going through shrubs, or just in general. We also highly recommend performing daily tick checks after you’ve been outside and try to really inspect your body, because the best way to prevent these tick-borne infections is to find them early and remove them.

Q: Are there other tick-borne infections beside Lyme disease, which seems to get all the press?

A: There are, definitely. In Maine we’re primarily concerned with anaplasmosis. In 2005, we had four cases reported in Maine, but in 2012 we had 42. This is an emerging infection but one that is very serious and has symptoms that mimic Lyme disease.

Q: Are there telltale symptoms of Lyme?

A: There is a rash that is commonly associated with Lyme disease that is called a “bull’s-eye rash,” but the rash doesn’t have to look like a clear target or bull’s-eye, it can be any type of rash that is circular in shape or oval. However, what’s tricky is that not all people who get Lyme disease get the rash. The estimate nationally is that 73 percent will get the rash. Just because you don’t have a rash doesn’t mean you are in the clear.

Q: What is the cure? An aggressive form of treatment?

A: A rash would be enough for a doctor to diagnose Lyme and they will start treating right away with antibiotics. For those who don’t get the rash, symptoms can be flu-like with headaches, feeling really tired, fever and chills, and muscle and joint pain.

Q: So it is curable, correct?

A: That’s a little bit of a complicated question, but yes, there is a treatment program that involves a course of antibiotics. However when you’re treated for Lyme disease, your body develops antibodies and you can actually test positive for it years later because those antibodies are present.

Q: Has Maine ever had a case of the West Nile virus?

A: We did have a confirmed case in 2012, and have found West Nile in mosquito populations. Again the best thing is prevention using insect repellent and generally being aware when you’re outside in Maine, particularly now that the summer is here and everybody is enjoying the outdoors.

Kate Colby, a state field epidemiologist, will be in Freeport July 17 to educate the community on the dangers of mosquito and tick-borne infections and how they can be prevented.