Ticks are numerous, blood-thirsty, and pose a summertime health risk to residents of our region.
Ticks are members of the biological class Arachnida, which includes spiders, scorpions, and mites. Ticks cannot fly or jump. Attracted by our warmth, they crawl onto our skin and clothing. Tick bites are painless. Once attached a tick may remain in place for several days as it fills its gut with blood upon which it may subsist for months. Once filled, a tick simply releases its hold and falls away.
Ticks can be encountered in gardens, grasslands, and forests. The risks of bites can be reduced by tucking pant-legs into socks and by applying DEET-containing lotions or sprays to exposed skin carefully following directions on product labels. Check with a physician before using DEET on the skin of infants and young children. Natural products which contain eucalyptus and citronella oils, though pricey, are effective tick and insect repellants. Clothing may also be treated with permethrins to repel ticks and insects. Upon return from outdoor treks, skin should be washed free of repellants. Skin and scalp should be carefully examined and clothing inspected for ticks, some of which may be no bigger than specks. Ticks may lurk in clothing for hours or days before biting.
Prompt removal of attached ticks is important. Using needle-nosed tweezers (which should be in every household and hiker’s first aid kit), the tick should be grasped as close to the skin as possible and then lifted free of its attachment. If the head-piece of the tick remains, this should be removed. If tweezers aren’t available use a tissue to grasp the tick and pull it free. Ticks must not be handled with unprotected fingers because bacteria in the parasites fluids can infect a cut or nick of the skin. The site of the bite should be washed and disinfected with alcohol or peroxide.
Older methods of tick removal such as covering the tick with Vaseline, dousing it with alcohol, or touching it with a lighted cigarette or match are unsafe, since they stimulate the tick to inject its contents into our skin.
A variety of ticks inhabit our area: dog, wood, deer, and Lone Star. Useful pictures are on-line at www.tickinfo.com