Personal Protection  

Lyme disease is easily diagnosed and treatable in an overwhelming majority of cases. However, early symptoms can be mild and are often overlooked. For this reason, you should be aware of the symptoms and take action as soon as possible.

The risk of contracting a tick-borne disease can be reduced substantially by understanding the ecology and environmental needs of ticks. Although factors over which we have no control (weather, daily temperature, lenght of daylight, etc.) affect tick activity, there are a number of measures one can take to avoid coming into contact with ticks. Here are a few simple steps you can do to help protect yourself:

• Wear a light colored clothing.
• Wear a long sleeved shirt and long pants.
• Tuck your shirt in your pants and pants into your socks. This keeps ticks on the outside of clothing as they crawl upwards.
• Use tick repellants.
• Put clothes that have been worn outside on a high heat cycle in the dryer, since a tick cannot survive high heat.
• After being outside, take a shower and scrub yourself with a washcloth.
• Have another individual blow dry your hair so they can see your scalp for ticks.
• Do not change your baby's diaper on the floor if animals are present in the home.

How To Remove A Tick

If you do get bitten by a tick, follow these steps to safely remove it.

• Using tweezers, grasp the tick as close as possible to the skin.
• Pull straight out with a steady motion. Be patient!
• Apply a topical antiseptic.
• Ticks embedded in the skin should only be removed by grasping the tick with pointed tweezers as close to the skin as possible and applying firm, steady backward force until the tick becomes dislodged.
• After removal, a small red spot may appear. This is just an allergic reaction to the bite.
• Place the tick between two pieces of scotch tape and label it with the date and location of the bite.
• Keep an eye out for the erythema migrans (EM) lesion, otherwise known as the bull's eye rash. Not all people who contract Lyme disease will develop this rash. Typical time of appearance is 3-7 days.
• If the rash does not appear, be aware that the incubation period could take 3-30 days. Typical symptoms include headache, fever, fatigue, joint pain, stiff neck and nausea.