Lyme Disease



Today's outdoor risk is lyme disease. The disease vector for lyme disease is deer ticks. There is no vaccine for lyme disease. To avoid your exposure, wear insect repellent that contains DEET. Be sure to keep it off your skin (only put DEET on clothing). Wearing light colored clothing allows you to see ticks easier if you do come in contact with them. Another good idea for clothing choice is long pants that are tucked into your socks. Ticks hide in brush close to the ground, so protecting the lower limbs is of utmost importance. Remember to always check for ticks when you leave the woods and remove them promptly if you have one! Don't hide inside for fear of ticks. Go explore!



Comments

  1. KT BonczykNovember 20, 2019 at 4:22 PM

    These are definitely good tips. I appreciate the concern and think it's good that you are spreading awareness about the dangers of Lyme disease and ways to avoid it. I would like to see some information on what a person could do if they do get bit by a tick. I know there are ways to get ahead of the disease and stop it if caught early enough.

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  2. Tim FergusonNovember 26, 2019 at 6:18 AM

    As someone who spends a lot of time outside, you think I would know more about tick prevention. Whenever I am getting ready to get back into my car and head home all my friends and I will do a "tick check" and look over each other to see if there are any on us. Now this has worked just fine in the past but it would NOT account for any ticks that are already beneath clothing. I appreciate the tip about tucking pants into the socks because I never thought of that before and I also did not know that DEET should only be applied to clothing. When summer rolls around again I hope to explore nature again but this year be just a little bit safer when it comes to tick repellent.

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