How can you prevent tick bites?

This year is supposed to be bad for ticks USA Today reported. These parasites carry Lyme disease and an assortment of other damaging infections collectively known as “tickborne diseases.” So how can you prevent tick bites this season?

Avoid and repel ticks

Wear long pants that are light-colored to more easily spot ticks and tuck your pants inside your socks Harvard Health noted. Stay in sunny dry open areas as ticks don’t like these places.

To repel ticks the CDC recommended repellents containing paicaridin. Follow application instructions for your product. You can also treat your clothing with an insecticide called permethrin or buy clothing with it already applied.

Find and remove ticks

Bathe or shower within two hours of coming indoors. Do a full-body tick check using a mirror to check all parts of your body. Examine your hiking gear clothing and pets — ticks can hitch a ride on any of these and then bite you once in the house.

You can tumble dry clothes on high heat for 10 minutes to kill ticks on clothing worn outside.

To safely remove ticks follow the CDC’s advice. Use only fine-tipped tweezers or a tick removal device that removes the tick and its head. Don’t twist or jerk. Never use oil heat petroleum jelly or other substances to get a tick to back out of your skin.

Symptoms of tick bites

Sometimes you may be bitten and the tick detaches before you know anything occurred. It’s important to recognize the symptoms of tick-borne infections the CDC noted. If you have any of these symptoms you should check in with your primary care physician. Some of these symptoms can be from diseases also carried by ticks that aren’t Lyme such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever or southern tick-associated rash illness.

• Rash (often a bullseye shape but many people never get a rash);
• Fever or chills;
• Fatigue;
• Headache;
• Muscle aches; and
• Joint pain.

Even if you don’t have a rash and don’t remember a tick bite it’s a good idea to check in with your physician if you have any of the above symptoms that aren’t due to a cold or flu virus.

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