Q: My son has a helmet for biking and skateboarding, but he says his friends call him a wimp for wearing it. So he leaves the house with his helmet, but I've seen him (well, spied on him) at the skateboard park and he's not wearing it. What can I do? - Katie B., Lansing, Michigan
A: Don't tell him that you spied on him; you'll lose all respect if you use that term. But you may want to tell him that if you see him riding or skateboarding without a helmet, it's no wheels for a week. Then tell him that if he wants to grow up to be as dumb as his friends, not wearing a helmet is a good place to start.
A recent study from the University of Michigan (in your backyard) reported that in 2015 more than 425,000 children - that's 50 an hour - visited an emergency department due to a "wheeled sports-related injury." Tell your son that if he isn't wearing a helmet, a lot more damage than a broken arm may result. Around 97% of bicyclists who died from a crash were NOT wearing helmets, and kids and teens account for almost a quarter of those deaths. The same study also reported that 18% of kids don't wear helmets when bike riding, 58% don't wear them while skateboarding, and 61% don't while riding a scooter.
Another interesting development highlighted in the study is that more kids on bikes are being injured by people getting out of parked cars - just one more reason to have that serious discussion about safety rules.
One last bit of info: All pro bikers and boarders wear helmets. Have your son watch skateboarding great "Tony Hawk: 50 tricks at age 50" on YouTube. He'll see that Hawk wore a helmet as a kid, and that's why he is still around and wearing one now.
Q: I hear there's a new tick out there that's worse than the deer tick that transmits Lyme disease. How can I keep my family safe? - Wanda S., Lima, Ohio
A: We think you're talking about the Asian long-horned tick, which is native to China, Japan and Korea, and was first discovered here in New Jersey in 2017. It has since spread to seven more states - Arkansas, Connecticut, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. In the U.S., it doesn't carry a virus or bacteria yet, but in Asia it does carry a virus, which reportedly kills 15% of the people it infects!
We think it's more important to be concerned about ticks that are here now and transmit diseases such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Lyme disease and a few other not-very-fun illnesses. They can cause everything from fever and rash to chronic arthritislike symptoms, encephalitis or even death; historically, 80% of folks with untreated RMSF have died.
Incidences of all these diseases have increased, from 19,804 cases confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2004 to almost twice as many - 36,429 - in 2016. But many cases go undiagnosed or unreported. Researchers at Harvard Medical School call the problem "America's quiet epidemic of tick-borne diseases," saying that there actually may be as many as 329,000 cases here every year. So, here's your protection plan:
1. When heading outside (generally from April to September) apply an insect repellant with DEET to exposed skin and on clothing. For more info on repellants, go to www.epa.gov/insect-repellents.
2. When returning home from outside, check your clothes and do a full body search in the shower. Start at your feet, and work your way up to the top of your head, looking in all crevasses and skin folds. If you find a tick on you, remove it with fine-tipped tweezers and clean the site with soap and water or rubbing alcohol.
3. Protect your pets with a flea collar and inspect them using a flea comb to check through their hair/fur.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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