A firm editorial line

WE DON’T mind taking a controversial position from time to time. So here goes: We are foursquare against ticks.

Don’t give us that stuff about everything on Earth having a purpose. Maybe the purpose of the tick is to sicken everybody in North America? Drive us from the land? And make room for more ticks?

Somebody here at the paper got a tick bite this April-and burned with fever for two days.

He was about to get to the doctor when the fever broke. The tick’s fault? You bet it was the tick’s fault. (Until the tick says otherwise, let’s just assume Mr. Tick guilty as charged. Silence in this court amounts to a guilty plea.)

Our man in the tent-and-canoe bureau, Bryan Hendricks, reported on another tick problem in his Sunday column. But for those who aren’t fond of the sports section (all three of you), let’s review: The pros have found out that ticks in this state can pass on another sickness besides Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever-like those weren’t bad enough.

It’s being called Southern Tick Associated Rash Illness-or STARI. Which, when contracted from a tick bite, can lead to rash, pain, stiffness . . . . Sounds a lot like Lyme Disease.

In this version of the sickness, the tick’s bite might cause a bull’s eye rash. Much like Lyme Disease. So it’s often misdiagnosed. STARI also causes flu like symptoms-including fever.

Unlike Lyme Disease, STARI doesn’t appear to have long-term effects. And doctors can give you antibiotics to help clear it up.

The best way to handle these sicknesses is to not get them in the first place. No tick bites, no rash, no doctor’s visits. And you don’t have to be in the woods to get targeted by a tick. All you have to be is an Arkansan.

So, once more from the top: When you walk the dog, piddle in the garden, or set a spell in the backyard swing,

treat your clothes with repellent, tuck your pants into your socks or boots, and always check for ticks once you come back inside. And check the kids, too.

Let’s have a fun summer. Out of the doctor’s office.

A confession: We hesitated to run this editorial, knowing full well that any and all or our readers with a subscription, an active imagination and an interest in medical news might diagnose that little patch of dry skin behind an ear or on the side of a calf as Lyme Disease or a variant thereof. People can catch things from the newspaper, you know. What this particular contagion needs is a suitably lengthy, latinate name to give it status. We suggest Arkensiusdemocratgazettia.