Tick-borne Illness

Prepare before you spend time outside: 

• Avoid wooded and brushy areas with high grass and leaf litter.
• Walk in the center of trails to avoid contact with adjacent vegetation.
• Check with your veterinarian about tick prevention for your pets
• Wear EPA-approved repellents; follow directions on the label.
• Wear long-sleeved, light-colored clothing.
• Tuck your pant legs into your socks and your shirt into your pants. 
• Avoid going bare-foot

While you are outside:

• Check for ticks regularly while you are hiking or spending time outside, especially in areas with high grass, or after sitting on rocks or logs. 
• Remove any ticks you find by brushing off loose ticks or removing ticks that are attached. 

After you're back inside: 

• Check your clothing, pets and gear for ticks and do a full-body tick check when coming back indoors.
  • Pay special attention to under the arms, behind the knees, between the legs, in and around the ears, in the belly button, around the waist, and in the hair.
• Take a shower within two hours after spending time outdoors, which will wash off any unattached ticks.
• Placing clothes directly in a dryer and drying on high heat can effectively kill ticks on clothing.

• Remove attached ticks as soon as possible. While there are many tick removal devices available, a pair of fine-tipped tweezers or a tick removal spoon work best.
• If you are using tweezers, grasp the tick as close to the skin's surface as possible and pull upward with steady, even pressure.
• If you are using a tick spoon, place the notch on the skin near the tick. Apply slight downward pressure while sliding the spoon forward to remove the tick.
• Do not twist or jerk the tick, as this can cause the mouth-parts to break off and remain in the skin.
• Do not use petroleum jelly, a hot match, dish-soap, nail polish, or other folk remedies to remove ticks. They are generally not effective and may increase the risk of infection.
• After removing the tick, disinfect the bite site and wash your hands with soap and water.

• Remove leaf litter and brush from your yard. This will decrease the areas where ticks can hide.
• Keep your lawn mowed to 3 inches or less. This lowers the humidity at ground level making it difficult for ticks to survive.
• Create a 3-foot barrier of mulch or crushed stone around the outside of your yard. Ticks do not like to cross over dry areas.
• Increase sunlight by pruning the lower branches of trees or thinning out shrubs and hedges. This will cause ticks to dry out and die.