For the first time in France, a court recognizes lyme disease like an occupational pathology. This is the disease from which Eric Oden, forestry technician at the Creuse hunting federation, has been suffering for 4 years. His job requires him to be constantly in the forest, the preferred habitat of ticks. They are the ones who transmit bacteria, from the family of Borrelia, causing a multitude of very disabling symptoms: joint pain, tremors, fever, memory loss, depression, etc.
A disease difficult to define
The diagnosis of this disease is very difficult. After a bite, an infection manifests itself after 7 to 14 days as a reaction of the skin around the bite, but the bite eventually disappears and a wide variety of symptoms can occur, difficult to associate with Lyme disease. If left untreated, this acute infection can become chronic and spread throughout the body. It will then cause serious complications that can appear months or even years after infection. Moreover, the screening tests available today are accused of not being very effective.
Be extra vigilant in the forest
The National Forestry Organization (ONF) has launched a prevention campaign. Like the best disease protection consists in not being bitten by a tick, the ONF recommends to cover the arms and the legs, during an outing in nature, as well as the head, because the detection of a bite on the scalp is quite complicated. At the end of the walk, it is best to check that you have not been bitten, paying particular attention to the armpits, neck and behind the ears. If unfortunately a tick is found hanging on a part of your body, it should be quickly removed using a tick puller or tweezers and disinfect the bite. “It will be necessary to monitor the area for six weeks,” warns the ONF.
The fact that a court recognizes this disease is a great victory for Eric Oden. The agricultural social mutuality (MSA), which had refused his claim for compensation, was ordered by the court to pay him 1,200 euros. He also hopes to be compensated if illness one day forces him to stop working.
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