 |
| A sign posted in Letchworth State Park, near the Mt. Morris Dam overlook, photograph by the author. |
Do
you remember Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck saying, “Duck Season! Wabbit Season!” to Elmer Fudd? What they should have been saying is “Tick
Season”!
Tick
season is any time temperatures get over freezing, with ticks becoming active
at 45o Fahrenheit (approximately 7o Celsius). The New York State Department of Health, notes
that juvenile Deer ticks are active from the middle of May to the middle of
August and adult deer ticks are the most active from March to the middle of May
and then from the middle of August through November1.
“Well,”
you say, “since it is almost July and it is over 45o Fahrenheit (or
7o Celsius) everywhere in North America, what ticks do I have to
watch out for the most, how do I keep from getting bit and what do I do if I do
get bit?”
Excellent
questions! So, let’s take them one at a
time.
 |
| An excerpt from “Ticks”, CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. |
The
three ticks that most commonly bite humans are the Deer or Black-legged tick, (ixodes
scapularis), the American Dog tick, (dermacentor variablis), and the
Lone-star tick, (amblyomma americanum), which was originally was found
mostly in the southern parts of the United States, but now is becoming more
common in the northern states as well.
 |
| An excerpt from “Ticks”, CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. |
 |
| Part of the sign posted in Letchworth State Park, near the Mt. Morris Dam overlook, photograph by the author. |
Okay,
nobody wants to get bit by a tick, so what do you do to prevent an icky, nasty
tick from crawling on you and biting you?
To avoid getting a tick on you, you should do the following:
· Wear
a long-sleeved shirt and long pants and wear light colored clothing, so that
ticks can easily be spotted. Also, tuck
your pants into your socks or boots.
· Check
your clothing and any exposed skin frequently and always check when you come
inside after being outdoors. Remember,
ticks can crawl up your clothes and get bite your head or neck, so check these
areas too.
· Avoid
tick infested areas like dense woods, brushy areas and the edge area between
woods and lawns and walk in the center of trails.
· Avoid
sitting directly on the ground or on stones.
· Use
a repellent, like DEET, or treat your clothes with Permethrin (for more on Permethrin,
read “Why Permethrin?...Mosquitos, Ticks and Flies…Oh My! ©”,
HERE,
or for a video go HERE).
· Bathe
or shower as soon as possible after coming inside.
 |
| A Lone Star tick on the author’s leg, photograph by the author. |
Oh
no! You got bit by a tick, now what do
you do? First off don’t panic! There are several different tick removal
devices for sale, but a simple fine-tipped set of tweezers works well. The United States Center for Disease Control
(CDC) suggests pulling the tick off with fine-tipped tweezers or tick removal
tools and they discourage using old folklore methods, such as smearing the tick
with petroleum jelly, painting it with nail polish, or applying something hot
to it, because you don’t want to wait for it to detach on its own, the key is
to remove the tick as soon as possible!
The sooner you remove the tick the better, since your chance of
contracting a disease from a tick is low if you remove it within 36 hours2.
 |
| An excerpt from “Tick Bite: What To Do”, CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. |
Here
are the CDC’s instructions on how to remove a tick3.
· Use
fine-tipped tweezers to grasp the tick as close to the skin’s surface as
possible.
· Pull
upward with steady, even pressure. Don’t
twist or jerk the tick; this can cause the mouth-parts to break off and remain
in the skin. If this happens, remove the
mouth-parts with tweezers. If you are
unable to remove the mouth easily with clean tweezers, leave it alone and let
the skin heal.
· After
removing the tick, thoroughly clean the bite area and your hands with rubbing
alcohol or soap and water.
· Never
crush a tick with your fingers. Dispose
of a live tick by putting it in alcohol, placing it in a sealed bag/container,
wrapping it tightly in tape, or flushing it down the toilet.
 |
| The site of a Lone Star tick bite on the author’s leg, photograph by the author. |
Personally,
if I pick up a tick, I always take a picture of the tick, just before I remove
it. After I remove the tick and wash the
area, I circle the bite location, with a permanent magic marker, that way I can
continue to watch the bite site for signs of a rash or infection.
If
you do develop a fever, fatigue, headache, muscle ache, joint swelling and pain
or a rash, within the first three to four weeks, about 30 days, see a
doctor. If you develop an infection or bullseye
like rash, which is white, then black and then red around the bite-site, in the
first several days, contact your doctor.
Be sure to tell your doctor when you were bitten and where you think
that you picked up the tick.
 |
| An excerpt from “Tick Removal Card”, New York State Department of Health. |
· Adult
ticks are about the size of sesame seeds and nymphs are the size of poppy seeds4.
· Ticks
live in shady, moist areas
· Ticks
crawl, they cannot fly or jump, and per the New York State Department of
Health, they do not drop onto passing people5.
· Ticks
will cling to grass or other plants by their lower legs, usually no more than
18 to 24” off the ground. They hold
their upper pair of legs outstretched, waiting to climb onto a passing
host. They then crawl upwards to find a
suitable, protected place to bite and feed upon the host6.
I
hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me
on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE.
Don’t forget to follow me on both The
Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE,
and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube. If you have questions, as always, feel free
to leave a comment on either site. I
announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at
bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.
That
is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!
Notes
1 “Be
Tick Free - A Guide for Preventing Lyme Disease”, New York State Department of
Health
2
“Tick Bite: What To Do”, CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
3 “Tick
Removal”, CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of
Health & Human Services
4
“Be Tick Free - A Guide for Preventing Lyme Disease”, New York State Department
of Health
5
“Ticks & Lyme Disease - A Guide for Preventing Lyme Disease”, New York
State Department of Health
6
Ibid.
Sources
“Ticks”,
CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health
& Human Services; January
10, 2019, https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/,
accessed 6/22/20
“Tick
Removal”, CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of
Health & Human Services; January
10, 2019, https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/removing_a_tick.html,
accessed 6/25/20
“Tick Bite: What To Do”, CDC, Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of
Health & Human Services; January
10, 2019, https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/pdfs/FS_TickBite-508.pdf,
accessed 6/25/20
Stafford,
Kirby C., III; “Managing Exposure to Ticks on Your Property”, The Connecticut
Agricultural Experiment Station, [New haven, CT, 2014 ] https://www.co.monmouth.nj.us/documents/61/CAES%20Managing%20Ticks%20on%20Your%20Propery.pdf,
accessed 6/22/20
“Ticks
& Lyme Disease - A Guide for Preventing Lyme Disease”, New York State
Department of Health, https://www.health.ny.gov/publications/2813/#:~:text=The%20three%20most%20common%20ticks,babesiosis%20and%20human%20granulocytic%20anaplasmosis.,
accessed 6/22/20
“Be Tick Free - A Guide for Preventing Lyme Disease”,
New York State Department of Health, https://www.health.ny.gov/publications/2825/#:~:text=Adult%20ticks%2C%20which%20are%20approximately,found%20throughout%20New%20York%20State.,
accessed 6/22/20
“Tick Removal Card”, New York State
Department of Health, https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/lyme/docs/tick_removal_card.pdf,
accessed 6/25/20
Schlanger,
Zoe; “Lyme Disease Season Is Here”, The New York Times as reprinted by The
Buffalo News, June 20, 2020, page 6-7
No comments:
Post a Comment