Tick ​​season: how to avoid getting bites and other things you need to know

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But while there may be a lower risk of transmitting Covid-19 outdoors, there are other illnesses you may encounter in nature. Some of them come from tiny arachnids called ticks.

Ticks don’t fly, but they can attach themselves to your skin and in some cases make you sick. Here’s what you need to know to stay safe this summer.

Symptoms appear three to 30 days after a tick bite. They can include fever, chills, headache, fatigue, and muscle and joint pain. About 70% to 80% of infected patients have a rash, which spreads over time and sometimes looks like a bull’s eye.
Other tick-borne diseases include anaplasmosis, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, spotted fever, rickettsiosis, and tularemia. These are also found primarily in the northeastern and midwestern regions of the United States.
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Prevent disease

Ticks are most active during the warmer months – April through September – according to the CDC. They live in grassy, ​​shrub-covered, or wooded areas and can cling to you if you pass over anything they are resting on. So if you are on hiking trails, for example, walk in the center of them.

Another precaution recommended by the CDC is to use insect repellents registered by the Environmental Protection Agency that contain DEET, picaridin, IR3535, lemon eucalyptus oil, para-menthane-diol or 2-undecanone.

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After you get inside, you’ll want to check your clothes and skin for ticks.

Dry clothes on high heat for 10 minutes to kill ticks on clothes that are not washed. If you wash your clothes, use hot water.

Take a full body exam, especially under the arms, in and around the ears, inside the navel, behind the knees, in and around the hair, between the legs and around the waist.

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If you find a tick on your or your children’s skin, remove it immediately. Use fine tweezers to grab the tick as close to your skin as possible. Pull up firmly. Then disinfect your hands, the affected skin area, and the tweezers.

If you have a rash or fever within weeks of removing a tick, the CDC recommends seeing your doctor.

Don’t forget your pets

Your pets can also contract tick-borne diseases. The CDC says dogs are very susceptible to tick bites, which can be difficult to detect.

Signs of tick-borne illness may not appear for at least one to three weeks after a bite, so watch your dog closely for changes in behavior or appetite if you suspect this has happened, the says. agency.

Keep ticks away from pets in your yard by applying pesticides outdoors, removing leaf litter and tall grass, placing a 3-foot-wide fence of wood chips or gravel between lawns and lawns. wooded areas and stacking the wood carefully and in a dry place.

Keep playground equipment, decks and patios away from yard edges and trees, use fences to keep unwanted animals away, like deer or raccoons, and remove old furniture or garbage from the yard that can give ticks a place to hide.

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