Tis the season–for mosquitoes and ticks! Protect yourself and your family from the serious diseases that ticks and mosquitoes can spread, including Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and West Nile Virus. Follow these quick and easy guidelines to keep these pesky insects at bay!
From Buncombe County News
Press Release:
Keep away those pesky neighbors… Please Tip & Toss
Protect yourself, your family and your neighborhood from serious diseases that ticks can spread, such as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and Lyme disease, and diseases mosquitoes can spread including Ehrlichiosis increase, LaCrosse encephalitis and West Nile Virus.
Follow these simple instructions to fight tick bites!
Avoid Direct Contact with Ticks
Avoid wooded and bushy areas with high grass and leaf litter.
Walk in the center of trails.Repel Ticks with DEET or Permethrin
Use repellents that contain 20 to 30% DEET (N, N-diethyl-m-toluamide) on exposed skin and clothing for protection that lasts up to several hours. Always follow product instructions. Parents should apply this product to their children, avoiding hands, eyes, and mouth.
Use products that contain permethrin on clothing. Treat clothing and gear, such as boots, pants, socks and tents with products containing 0.5% permethrin. It remains protective through several washings. Pre-treated clothing is available and may be protective longer.
Other repellents registered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may be found here.Find and Remove Ticks from Your Body
Bathe or shower as soon as possible after coming indoors (preferably within two hours) to wash off and more easily find ticks that are crawling on you.
Conduct a full-body tick check using a hand-held or full-length mirror to view all parts of your body upon return from tick-infested areas. Parents should check their children for ticks under the arms, in and around the ears, inside the belly button, behind the knees, between the legs, around the waist, and especially in their hair.
Examine gear and pets. Ticks can ride into the home on clothing and pets, then attach to a person later, so carefully examine pets, coats, and day packs.
Tumble clothes in a dryer on high heat for an hour to kill remaining ticks. (Some research suggests that shorter drying times may also be effective, particularly if the clothing is not wet.)
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