Tickborne diseases are on the rise: Heres what to know

hiking

Where and when to be on the lookout for ticks

Tickborne diseases

Preventing tickborne diseases

  • Wear long pants and a long-sleeved shirt.
  • Spray your clothes with 0.5% permethrin, an insecticide that kills ticks.
  • “Be a dork” and tuck your pants into your socks.
  • Wear a hat.
  • Shake out your clothing outside.
  • Bathe or shower within two hours.
  • Do a full body check on yourself and your loved ones: Ticks prefer warm areas, like armpits and other folds, but they’ll latch on wherever they can.
  • Have a companion check areas you can’t easily see, such as your back and the back of your scalp.
  • Not all ticks carry disease.
  • Even if a tick is carrying disease, it hasn’t necessarily been transmitted to you. Lyme disease and several other tickborne diseases aren’t transmitted until about 36–48 hours after the tick latches on.

Source: Read Full Article