By Marcus Woolf
Spring has sprung, and that means tick season is upon us. If you're not familiar with these tiny eight-legged creatures, you should be, as cases of tick-related Lyme disease have increased significantly in recent years. From 2007 to 2021, Lyme disease diagnoses in the United States rose 357 percent in rural areas and 65 percent in urban areas, according to FAIR Health, a national nonprofit group that analyzes healthcare data
“Lyme disease remains a growing public health concern,” says Robin Gelburd, president of FAIR Health.
In Alabama, most tick species are active from May through August, so it’s time for hikers to start thinking about their strategies for preventing and dealing with tick bites. Following are six key things hikers need to know.
#1 - Ticks Crawl Up
Ticks don’t fly or fall from trees —they crawl up. "They want to blood feed around the head, neck and ears of their host where the skin is thinner and hosts have more trouble grooming,” says Dr. Thomas Mather, director of the University of Rhode Island's TickEncounter. So, your prevention strategy should begin from the ground up. Nymphal deer ticks — the ones the size of poppy seeds—hide in leaves, so they’ll crawl up from the ground. To avoid them, treat your shoes with Permethrin repellent, such as the spray by Sawyer.
Lone Star tick nymphs hang out a bit higher than the leaves, and they’ll crawl up your legs, so use Permethrin spray to treat the inside of pants or shorts, or get clothes pre-treated with a repellent like Insect Shield. (Brands Such as Ex Officio and L.L. Bean have clothing with Insect Shield.) “Ticks are more likely to walk up the inside than the outside of your shorts,” says Mather. “If a tick rubs against permethrin for five to 30 seconds, it will likely get a dose that will cause it to fall off and eventually die.”
#2 - Tick-transmitted Diseases are Now More Common.
Scientists are finding more and more disease-causing microbes carried by ticks, including Lyme disease bacteria, Babesia protozoa, Anaplasma, Ehrlichia and encephalitis-causing bacteria.
#3 - Only Deer Ticks Transmit Lyme Disease
You can get Lyme disease only from deer ticks (also called Black-legged ticks) and their cousins around the world (sheep ticks in Europe; Taiga ticks in Asia). Dog ticks and Lone Star ticks don’t seem to transmit Lyme. Because deer tick bites are painless, you probably won’t know you’ve been bitten until you see the tick, which will look like a poppyseed on your skin. Important tip: If a tick bites you, save it and take it to the doctor for identification.
#4 - It Might Take 24 Hours to Become Infected
It takes at least 24 hours for some disease bacteria, such as Lyme disease bacteria, to make its way into a tick’s saliva and be transmitted to a person. After you hike in tick country, do a tick check when you take a shower or bath.
#5 - How to Inspect for Ticks
As a general rule, you should inspect areas where clothing might restrict the movement of a tick as it climbs upward. If a tick can no longer climb, it might stop and start to bite you. To begin your tick check, start with your lower body, including the backs of your knees, where ticks can get trapped in the folds of fabric. Because ticks like warm, moist areas, inspect your groin area, plus the skin that was covered by the waistband of your underwear and pants or shorts. Another place you might find ticks is your armpits. Also, check out the back of your upper arms, where clothing binds and creates folds. Finally, inspect your scalp.
If you’re hiking with a dog, be sure to check your pet for ticks. Typically, ticks move toward a dog’s head. Once you’ve inspected the animal’s legs, tail, and torso, look carefully for ticks in the head area.
#6 - Remove Ticks with Pointy Tweezers
Use really pointy tweezers to remove a tick as if you were removing a splinter. Try to grab the mouthparts right next to the skin. Don’t try to kill it by squishing it, because that will push germs to the front end of the tick, which is attached to your skin. Also, things like hot matches and Vaseline don’t work as consistently as tweezers.
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