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Preventing Ticks: Made Easy

November 25th, 2009 Posted in Spiders & Other Arachnids

Ticks can transmit a variety of contagious diseases, such as Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted fever to name a few of the most common and serious. People who live, work, or spend leisure time near tick-infested locations like wooded or brushy environments are at a higher risk of contracting a tick-borne, or rickettsial, illness. Ticks are prevalent across North America.

The best way to safeguard yourself against these illnesses is simply to avoid getting bitten by a tick, but this might be more difficult than it sounds given the small size and sometimes painless bite of the creature. Fortunately, there are some easy control and prevention measures that everyone should take when in a possibly infested area or when dealing with an already attached tick.

Want to learn more about preventing ticks? Read on about:

• Outdoor and Indoor Control Measures
• Tick Bite Prevention
• Proper Tick Removal

Outdoor and Indoor Control Measures

Habitat control is central to outdoor tick control. Keep grass, weeds, and brush cut short. This will increase tick dessication in hot weather, and will also discourage possible hosts and decrease the amount of vegetation that might need to be treated with a pesticide. Birds carry ticks all over throughout their migrations, and any bird or rodent nests should be removed. Removal of clutter or debris from property also discourages frequenting of rodents.

Ticks in every stage of the life cycle can be found in crevices on the inside and outside of the home. Seal as many as you can, and then treat the rest with an insecticide. Since ticks can survive for so long without food, they may only come into contact with treated surfaces after the spray has worn off, so don’t get discouraged and be prepared to apply multiple treatments.

Be careful using harmful chemicals around pets and children, and always follow label instructions.

Tick Bite Prevention

Although active year round in some areas, ticks are most active during spring, but remain widespread through August. The easiest way to avoid ticks is to avoid tick-infested areas during the peak season. However many people live or work in these environments, and outdoor leisure activities sometimes require spending time in locations where ticks are prevalent.

If you know you are entering a possibly infested area there are simple steps and facts (like the fact that most ticks attach on the lower leg then crawl up) that are useful in preventing a tick bite.

Before you venture outdoors:

• Wear light colored clothing to make it easier to spot ticks crawling on the body.
• Cover arms and legs with long sleeves and pants, and tuck and tape pants into socks to make it harder for a tick to venture into an opening.
• Apply insect repellent to any exposed skin, but be careful in your selection and application as many repellents are toxic. Always follow instructions on the label. Reapply as necessary.

Once outside in a possibly infested area:

• Try to remain centered on the trail when hiking or walking to avoid brushing against any “questing” ticks.
• Avoid sitting on the ground, especially in foliage debris, during the peak months.
• Check yourself, your family, and your pets, every few hours that you are in an infested area. Ticks rarely are able to transmit any diseases unless they are attached for more than 4 hours.
• Inspect the entire bodies of children, especially the nape of the neck. It is much easier for a tick to crawl to areas of the body on a child that you would least expect (like the scalp).
• Examine the entire body on pets as ticks will feed anywhere, even in tricky locations such as between an animal’s toes, behind ears, or in skin folds.
• Remove ticks if you do see them crawling on your clothes with a piece of tape and then thrown away. Avoid direct contact because even tick secretions can carry the diseases.

Upon returning home, check your family and pets again, and immediately wash clothes worn in the infested area. Ticks can typically survive a wash cycle, but a hot drying cycle will kill them.

Proper Tick Removal

Remove any tick as promptly as possible, however, as stated above, always avoid any direct contact with the tick to avoid contaminated secretions.

There are few outdated and ineffective methods that have been prevalent for some time that should be addressed. As a child my parents would always burn a feeding tick with the tip of a recently diffused match to try to get it to back out of the skin. People know now that this method, along with other methods including treatment with gasoline or suffocation by petroleum jelly are not acceptable.

To properly remove a feeding tick, use tweezers or small forceps to grasp the tick as close to the surface of the skin as possible. Then simply pull the tick straight upward, with steady, even pressure. Do not jerk or twist the tick as you pull. Usually this method will remove the tick with the mouth-parts intact; but if they break off in the skin, although it is unpleasantly gross, it will not increase the risk of tick-borne illness. You can remove any broken off mouth-parts with a sterile needle. If there are no tweezers or other applicable tools around, you can remove a tick with your fingers, just make sure to take necessary precautions to prevent direct contact, such as wrapping your fingers in a napkin or toilet paper.

After the tick has been removed, disinfect the area with rubbing alcohol. A topical antibiotic may also be applied as an additional safeguard.