How To Protect Yourself From Ticks

How To Protect Yourself From Ticks

• Avoid tick-infested areas. Many local health departments, parks, and cooperative extension services have information about the areas most infested with ticks. If you are in a tick-infested area, walk in the center of the trails to avoid contact with vegetation.
• Wear light-colored clothing, which allows you to see ticks that are crawling on your clothing. Tuck your pant legs into your socks so that ticks cannot crawl up inside of your pant legs. Some ticks can crawl down into shoes and are small enough to crawl through most socks. When traveling in areas with lone star ticks (which are associated with Southern tick-associated rash illness, ehrlichiosis, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever) you should examine your feet and ankles to ensure that ticks are not attached.
• Use chemical repellent with DEET or permethrin and wear protective clothing. Repellents containing permethrin can be sprayed on boots and clothing. When used in this manner, the repellent will be protective for several days. Repellents containing DEET (N, N-diethyl-m-toluamide) can be applied to the skin, but they protect for only a few hours before reapplication is necessary. Parents should apply this product to their children, avoiding the hands, eyes, and mouth. An alternative to DEET, picaridin, has recently become available in the United States. Picaridin has limited data published for tick repellency, but it may provide suitable protection.

For detailed information about using DEET on children, see West Nile Virus: What You Need to Know about Mosquito Repellent.

For detailed information about tick prevention and control, see Lyme Disease Prevention and Control.

Perform daily tick checks

• Check your body for ticks after being outdoors, even in your own yard. Conduct a body check upon return from potentially tick-infested areas by searching your entire body for ticks. Use a hand-held or full-length mirror to view all parts of your body and remove any tick you find (see the “Safely remove ticks” section below for instructions on removing ticks). Check these parts of your body and your child’s body for ticks:

• Under the arms
• In and around the ears
• Inside belly button
• Back of the knees
• In and around the hair
• Between the legs
• Around the waist

• Check your children for ticks, especially in the hair, when returning from potentially tick-infested areas. See the list above for the places on your child’s body to check for ticks. Remove any tick you find on your child’s body.
• Check your clothing and pets for ticks. Ticks may be carried into the house on clothing and pets. Both should be examined carefully, and any ticks that are found should be removed. Placing clothes into a dryer on high heat effectively kills ticks.