Protecting Yourself From Tick Bites and Lyme Disease

The people of New England were fortunate to have experienced a very mild winter this past year; The relative lack of snow and ultra-frigid temperatures were a welcomed relief, especially after the unrelenting snowstorms we were subjected to during the winter of 2015!

As recently reported by the Gloucester Daily Times, the warmer-than-usual winter months paved the way for what could potentially be an especially bad tick "season" this year.   As discussed in the GDT article, not only is Massachusetts at the epicenter of the tick-borne illness, Lyme disease, but we are now facing the migration of another disease carrying tick, the Lone Star tick, which spreads a number of other diseases, including Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.

There are a number of precautions people should take to help protect themselves from tick bites:

1. Be sure to wear long pants, tall socks, shoes and a long sleeve shirt when venturing outside, especially into wooded areas or fields with tall grass
2. Treat your clothing with tick & bug repellent.  There are a number of products available that will help to both repel and even kill ticks.  For a breakdown of such repellents, check out tickinfo.com
3. Get into the habit of thoroughly checking your skin for ticks after returning from wooded or grassy areas.

For more information about lyme disease, and other tick-borne illnesses, check out Webmd or the Center for Disease Control.