Tick Season Has Arrived: Here Is What You Need To Know

As the weather warms and the summer sun provides an optimal environment for outdoor activity, a pesky critter, the size of a poppy seed, lurks in grassy fields and woods: the tick.

Through their bite, ticks are responsible for spreading serious illnesses such as ehrlichiosis and Lyme disease. Recent studies indicate cases of Lyme exceed 300,000 each year and, alarmingly, the numbers are not expected to improve. As the species’ geographic range expands, due to climate change and habitat fragmentation, tick-borne illnesses continue to increase.

The good news is that there are tips available to help protect yourself from tick bites.

How to protect yourself from ticks

1. Employ an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered insect repellent, like DEET or Picaridin. When used as directed, these sprays are an effective method for deterring ticks.
2. When hiking or exercising outdoors, remain on the main trails and/or sidewalks, avoiding any areas with tall grasses, shrubs and weeds.
3. Upon returning to the indoors, check your clothing (and pets) for unattached ticks that may have hitched a ride home.
4. Conduct a full-body tick check, using a full-length mirror to view the following areas:
   • Under the arms
   • In and around the ears
   • Inside belly button
   • Back of the knees
   • In and around hair
   • Between legs
   • Around waist

If you do find a tick on yourself or a family member, don’t panic. Ticks usually take two to three days to engorge themselves fully and infect their hosts, so most people emerge disease-free even if they do find one.

To remove the tick, grab a pair of tweezers. Grasp it by its head and pull slowly and steadily so that it doesn’t have a chance to leave behind pathogens. This is important because if you pull too aggressively, the head will remain stuck, but if you pull gently and gradually, the tick will let go, allowing you to remove the entire thing.

The earlier you catch the tick, the better off you’ll be. That’s because, the window for taking prophylactic doxycycline, the medicine that decreases the likelihood that you develop Lyme disease, closes between 48 and 72 hours after infection begins.

Symptoms to Look Out For

A tick bite typically results in a circular or “bulls-eye” rash, fever, chills and aches and pains. Symptoms can be mild and treatable at home or, when left untreated, may require hospitalization. If you experience any of these symptoms, visit your healthcare provider or CareWell Urgent Care to determine the best course of treatment.