The Shadow
STAUNTON, Va. (VR)– The Central Shenandoah Health District is reaching out to remind residents of the dangers of ticks and the diseases they can carry.
Ticks are found across Virginia in all settings, from rural to urban, and can cause several diseases that can affect people. Ticks maybe tiny and hard to spot, but they can cause a number of serious medical problems, including Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Alpha-gal food allergy, ehrlichiosis, babesiosis, and anaplasmosis.
“The best way to avoid these tickborne illnesses is to prevent being bitten by a tick in the first place,” says Dr. Allison Baroco, acting Health Director for CSHD. “Being well equipped with protective clothing and bug spray will help keep ticks off of your skin.”
Central Shenandoah Health District suggests several steps you can take to protect yourself from ticks when you’re outside.
Use an EPA-registered insect repellent.
- When outdoors in tick habitats, use repellents containing either DEET, picaridin, IR 3535, 2-undecanone, or oil of lemon eucalyptus on your skin or clothing. It’s important to always follow the instructions on the product label.
- The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends using products containing no more than 30% DEET on children.
- Never use oil of lemon eucalyptus and para-menthane-diol on children under 3 years of age.
- The repellent called “permethrin” can also be used to treat clothing ahead of time; it will last on clothing, socks, and shoes for several washes. When used properly, it will kill ticks before they bite.
- Do not use any insect repellent on babies under 2 months of age.
When you’re outside in tick-infested areas, get into the habit of tucking your pants legs into your socks will help prevent ticks from climbing up your shoe and sock and onto your skin. Forcing ticks to climb up the outside of your clothing will help you spot and remove ticks before they can reach your upper body. If your shoes, socks and pants were treated with permethrin, any tick that comes into contact with the treated item usually die or become affected within a few minutes – before they can bite.
When you come inside after being in areas with potential ticks, take these steps to find them.
- Check your clothing after spending time in tick habitats. Tumble dry clothing on high heat for 10 minutes to kill any remaining ticks.
- Use a mirror or ask a friend, partner, or spouse to help check your body for ticks. Pay close attention to the armpits, the groin area, in and around ears and your hairline, belly button, backs of your knees and between your legs. All are warm, moist areas that ticks are drawn to.
- Also remember to check your children, your hiking gear, and pets for ticks, too.
If you find a tick on your body, remove it properly and promptly.
- Use tweezers to grasp the tick as close as possible to the skin.
- Pull upward, with steady even pressure, until the tick releases to avoid breaking the mouth parts of the tick or rupturing the tick’s body.
- Avoid any method of removal that could crush, burn, or suffocate the tick.
- After the tick is removed, clean the skin and the bite area with rubbing alcohol or soap and hot water.
- Save the tick in a bag or container with rubbing alcohol for identification in case an illness develops in the days to weeks following a tick bite.
If you’ve been bitten by a tick in Virginia, you may send it to the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) for identification and information about diseases associated with that type of tick. The Virginia Tick Survey is a free service of VDH.
For information on number of tick-related illnesses cases in Virginia, visit the Virginia Reportable Disease Surveillance Dashboard. Be safe and use common sense when outside in tick-infested areas
