COUNTY LOOKING INTO REPORT ON LYME DISEASE.

Byline: Eric Moses and Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writers

Public health officials said Thursday they are investigating the possibility that Los Angeles County's first tick infected with Lyme disease was found in Topanga Canyon, but they cautioned that more testing is needed.

Still, they urged hikers to wear long sleeves and light-colored clothing while outdoors in the Santa Monica Mountains and to examine themselves closely for the pinhead-size insects.

``We're assuming that there is Lyme disease in Los Angeles, but it's in very low rates, and we don't know where it's likely to be,'' said Dr. Rashon Reporter of the county Health Department's Acute Communicable Disease Control unit.

None of the 28 reported cases of Lyme disease in Los Angeles County since 1989 has been linked to ticks found in the county, officials said. Of the 28, 16 cases were attributed to contacts outside the county, and the sources of 12 were never confirmed, they said.

However, ticks carrying the bacterium that causes Lyme disease have been found in Orange, Kern, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.

Two weeks ago, a park volunteer alerted the West Vector Control District that she had found a tick late last year and had turned it over to a private testing laboratory in Palo Alto, Calif. On Dec. 20, the lab concluded that the tick carried the disease.

``It was strongly positive, and we have a lot of confidence that it was a 100 percent valid test,'' said Dr. Nick Harris, president of IGeneX Inc. ``We don't have any doubt.''

Robert Saviskas, head of the control district, said he is confident that the test is accurate but wants to find another infected tick before confirming that Lyme disease has arrived in Los Angeles.

``There has to be a lot more sampling and testing before a decision can be made if the Lyme disease is present out there in the Malibu mountains,'' he said. ``This is not a message that it's out there and everybody should panic.''

Saviskas said the woman who found the tick was unsure if it came from the park or her nearby property.

County and vector control investigators will intensify their searches for more diseased ticks.

A human can contract the disease, which primarily is found on the East Coast and in the Pacific Northwest, when an infected Western black-legged tick feeds on a human for 12 to 24 hours, health officials said.

Though it is rarely fatal, the disease can cause severe arthritis, and heart and neurological ailments. It can be treated if caught in the early stages.

GUARDING AGAINST TICKS

To reduce your chances of being bitten by a tick, health and state park rangers suggest:

Staying out of tall grass near hiking trails.

Wearing light-colored clothing, shirts with long sleeves and stuffing pants legs into socks.

Checking your entire body for ticks following walks.

If you find a tick, place it in a sealable, plastic bag with a moist paper towel and store it in a refrigerator. Then, call the West Vector Control District at [phone] Ext. 505.

Symptoms of Lyme disease:

Flulike aches and fever.

A red circular rash around the tick bite mark.

In later stages, the disease is marked by severe pain in body joints.

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