Personal Prevention
Here are some basic tips to limit your exposure.
Avoid, repel, inspect
Avoid infested areas
- Ticks are most active during warm weather – late spring through fall, but can be out any time when temperatures are above freezing.
- Brush, wooded or grassy areas are likely to have ticks – not likely on open, sandy beaches.
- HELPFUL HINT: Stay on trails and avoid the edge habitat where ticks are likely to be.
- Apply repellent before entering areas harboring ticks
Repellents for skin application:
DEET (N-N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) most widely available. Protection time 1-10 hours. Use at least 20% DEET to repel ticks.
American Academy of Pediatrics and Centers for Disease Control recommend for children older than 2 months of age (10% -30% DEET). They do not recommend for children younger than 2 months.
Examples: Cutter, OFFI, 3M Ultrathon
Picaridin – synthetic version of piperine, a chemical found in black pepper. Protection time 6-8 hours. Product concentrations 10-20%
Examples: Avon Skin-So-Soft Bug Guard, Cutter Advanced, Natrapel
IR3535 – Beta alanine, synthetic version of an amino acid. Protection times 2-12 hours. Product concentrations of 7-20%.
Examples: Avon-Skin-So-Soft, Coleman Skin Smart
Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus – modified version of a natural plant oil. Protection time 6 hours. Product concentrations 30-40%. Not recommended for children under 3 years of age.
Examples: Citropel, Coleman Botanicals, Repel Essential
Herbal or Botanical – a variety of plant oils such as peppermint, lemongrass, cedar, rosemary and others. Their effectiveness against ticks or mosquitoes is questionable and they may contain allergens.
Repellents for Clothing:
Repellents containing DEET (N-N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) or permethrin (Permanone) applied to boots, shoes and pants. Permethrin can be used on clothing, shoes, bed nets and camping gear – – these products should not be used directly on the skin.
Pants should be tucked into socks or boots to prevent ticks from crawling under the pants.
Follow the label instructions on the repellent — avoid eyes, nose, lips, cuts and scratches, which may be sensitive to repellents.
Pre-treated clothing is available: Insect Shield, REI, Cabelas, Dick’s Sporting Goods, LL Bean, Eastern Mountain Sports, Orvis, LL Bean, Amazon, etc.
Products specially formulated for application to clothing or outerwear – follow the instructions for application carefully.
Examples: Ben’s Coleman, Sawyer’s Duranon, Permanon, Repel
See Mass Dept of Health document – link (attached).
Inspect for ticks after leaving the area
Showering immediately after potential tick exposure may help removing
unattached ticks.
Do a Tick Check – remember warm and moist areas – check the back of the knees, armpits, groin, scalp, back of the neck and behind the ears.
If you find an attached tick remove with a fine-point tweezers. Do not squeeze or twist the tick’s body, grasp it close to the skin and pull straight out.
Example: Tick-ease tweezers (www.tickease.com)
• Modification of environment to be less conclusive to tick survival
• Application of pesticides to pets, that frequent areas that may harbor ticks farmacie-romania.com.
– Consult your veterinarian about tick control options (and the Lyme disease vaccine).
