How to avoid tick bites in your yard or while hiking in the woods, and what to do if one starts feasting on you

Tick-borne diseases are driving high rates of emergency room visits this summer. Per The Conversation, deer ticks alone cause an estimated four hundred seventy-six thousand new cases of Lyme disease each year in the United States—a disease that can cause long-term damage to joints, the heart, and the nervous system. The lone star tick can trigger Alpha Gal syndrome, leaving infected people allergic to red meat and certain medications and vaccines. Other serious illnesses include Heartland virus disease, Powassan virus disease, babesiosis, and anaplasmosis, which can result in severe health complications or, in rare cases, death. Prevention is your best defense. Ticks quest from grass blades as you pass, crawling on your skin for thirty minutes to an hour before biting. Wear long sleeves and light-colored pants—ticks can't bite through fabric, and light colors let you spot them. Apply a DEET repellent, and treat your clothing and gear with permethrin spray—but never apply permethrin directly to your skin. After outdoor activities, change into fresh clothes and run them through the dryer on high heat for about twenty minutes. For your yard, mow regularly, remove leaf litter, and place a wood chip buffer zone between your lawn and wooded areas. If you find a tick on your body, use fine-tipped tweezers to grab it as close to its head and your skin as you can, then pull straight up. Speed matters: the faster you remove a tick, the lower your risk of infection.

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