Lyme Disease Personal Prevention Tips
- Avoid areas where ticks live
- Keep ticks off your skin
- Perform tick checks
- Control ticks around your home
Avoid areas where ticks live
- Ticks prefer wooded and bushy areas with high grass and a lot of leaf litter. These are areas to avoid.
- Take extra precautions in May, June, and July. This is when ticks that transmit Lyme disease are most active.
- If you do enter a tick area, walk in the center of the trail to avoid contact with overgrown grass, brush, and leaf litter.
Keep ticks off your skin
- Apply insect repellent with 20 percent DEET or more on skin and clothing when you go outdoors. Don’t spray repellent on skin under clothing.
- Permethrin sprayed on clothing kills ticks on contact and provides protection through several washings. Don’t use permethrin on skin.
- Cover up. Wear long pants, long sleeves, and long socks. Light-colored clothing will help you spot ticks more easily. Tucking pant legs into socks or boots and tucking shirts into pants help keep ticks on the outside of clothing.
Perform tick checks
Remove ticks from your clothes before going indoors.
Wash your clothes with hot water and dry them using high heat for at least one hour.
Check your body and your child’s body after being outdoors.
Even in your own yard. Use a mirror to view all parts of your body (in armpits, behind ears, in groin, etc.) and remove any ticks you find.
Safely remove ticks
Early tick removal may reduce the risk of infection of some tick-borne diseases. Follow the steps below to safely remove ticks from animals and humans.
1. Use fine-tipped tweezers and protect bare hands with a tissue or gloves to avoid contact with tick fluids.
2. Grab the tick close to the skin. Do not twist or
jerk the tick, as this may cause the mouthparts
to break off and remain in the skin.
3. Gently pull straight up until all parts of the tick are removed.
4. After removing the tick, wash your hands with soap and water or waterless alcohol-based hand rub. Clean the tick bite with an antiseptic such as iodine scrub, rubbing alcohol, or soap and water
5. Contact your healthcare provider if you develop fever, headache, fatigue, or rash.
Use tick medicine or collars on dogs and cats. Check pets regularly for ticks.