Never skip a shower after being outdoors because of ticks, CDC warns

Everyone has their own shower routine and preferences. Some people insist on showering in the morning, while others prefer to clean themselves in the evening. Some think showering should be a daily effort, while others say rinsing several times a week is enough. But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), how necessary it is for you to take a shower and when can depend on what you were doing before. Specifically, the agency warns that not taking a shower after visiting a particular location can endanger your health and make you vulnerable to various illnesses. Read on to find out when you should never, never skip your shower.

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If you’ve spent time outdoors, you’ll want to shower as soon as possible after entering. The CDC says that taking a shower at least two hours after getting inside has been “shown to reduce your risk of contracting Lyme disease and may be effective in reducing the risk of other tick-borne illnesses.” Showering can help remove unattached ticks, according to the agency, and it can also be a time when you can do a whole body tick check. You should check in and around your hair and ears, under your arms, inside your belly button, around your waist, between your legs and behind your knees, according to the CDC.

While it is a good idea to never skip a shower after being outside, you will especially want to follow these safety guidelines when coming from a tick infested area. According to the CDC, “ticks live in grassy, ​​brushy, or wooded areas,” but they can also be found on animals. “So spending time outside camping, gardening or hunting could put you in close contact with ticks,” the agency explains. The CDC adds that many people end up catching ticks just from being in their own backyard or neighborhood.

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Some areas of the country are also more prone to ticks. According to the CDC’s Tick Bite Data Tracker, the Northeast has the highest number of emergency room visits for tick bites, with 108 per 100,000 tick-related visits. This area includes the following states: Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

According to the CDC, a tick bite can lead to several types of tick-borne illnesses, such as Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Colorado tick fever, tularemia, anaplasmosis, and infection. by the Powassan virus. Fortunately, the agency also says that many tick-borne diseases can have similar signs and symptoms, so they’re easier to spot. These include fever, chills, body aches, pains, and rashes.

“Detecting and treating the infection early on decreases the risk of serious complications. So see your doctor right away if you’ve been bitten by a tick and have any of the symptoms described here,” advises the CDC.

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