How Can I Prevent Lyme Disease This Summer?

Protect yourself from tick bites this summer by learning where to expect them, wearing insect repellent, performing tick checks, learning how to remove ticks quickly and correctly, and being alert for fevers or rashes, which are often the first signs of Lyme disease.  

What can I do to prevent Lyme disease?

What you wear, where you go, checking for ticks, and creating tick-safe zones in your yard are some precautions you can take to prevent Lyme disease. Deer ticks live in shady, moist areas at ground level and live in lawns, gardens, and at the edges of woods and old stone walls, yet, this doesn’t mean that you cannot enjoy nature in the spring or summer. 

Wardrobe

What you wear can help reduce the risk of coming in contact with a tick and make it easier to spot if you do find one on you. Covering your skin minimizes the risk of finding exposed skin to bite. Here are some wardrobe-related methods to prevent Lyme disease: 

• Wear insect repellent and treat clothing with products that contain permethrin to repel ticks
• Wear light-colored clothing that is woven tightly to spot ticks easily and prevent them from crawling through the material
• Wear close-toed shoes, a long-sleeve shirt, and long pants to minimize exposed skin
• Tuck pant legs into socks or boots and shirt into pants to minimize exposed skin
• Keep long hair tied back, especially while gardening, to prevent hair from coming in contact with the ground
• Place clothing in the dryer on high heat for six minutes to kill ticks on clothing

Places to Avoid

Whether hiking or gardening, knowing where there might be ticks can help prevent you from contracting Lyme disease. Here are some tips to consider when participating in outdoor activities to avoid ticks:

• Walk in the center of hiking trails
• Avoid walking through tall bushes or other vegetation
• Avoid sitting on the ground or on stone walls

Creating Tick-Safe Zones 

Consider modifying your landscape with these easy fixes to create “tick-safe zones.” Including:

• Keeping patios, play areas, and playground equipment away from shrubs and other vegetation.
• Regularly removing leaves, tall grasses, and brush around your home
• Placing wood chips or gravel between lawns and wooded areas to keep ticks away
• Using acaricides (tick pesticides) to reduce the number of ticks, however, do not solely rely on this to reduce risk of Lyme disease
• Discouraging deer by removing plants that attract deer or constructing a fence as deer are the main food source of adult ticks

Perform Daily Tick Checks

Check your body for ticks after being outdoors–even if you were just in your backyard. Setting aside time to check yourself for ticks can help you spot and remove a tick before it bites. Adult ticks and immature ticks are tiny, making it difficult to feel if there’s one on you.

Use a hand-held or full-length mirror to view your entire body, paying particular attention to these areas:

• Under the arms
• In and around the ears
• Inside the belly button
• Back of the knees
• In and around all head and body hair
• Between the legs
• Around the waist