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Tick removal - Prevention

Prevention:

  • Wear long pants and long sleeves when walking through heavy brush, tall grass, and densely wooded areas.
  • Pull your socks over the outside of your pants to prevent ticks from crawling up inside.
  • Keep your shirt tucked into your pants.
  • Wear light-colored clothes so that ticks can be spotted easily.
  • Spray your clothes with insect repellant.
  • Check your clothes and skin frequently while in the woods.

After returning home:

  • Remove your clothes and thoroughly inspect all skin surface areas, including your scalp. Ticks can quickly climb up the length of your body.
  • Some ticks are large and easy to locate. Other ticks can be quite small, so carefully evaluate all black or brown spots on the skin.
  • If possible ask someone to help you examine your body for ticks.
  • An adult should examine children carefully.
  • Reviewed last on: 5/20/2008
  • Jatin M. Vyas, PhD, MD, Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Assistant in Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

References

Long SS. Principles and Practice of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. 2nd ed. Elsevier; 2003: 1372-1373.

Feder HM Jr, Johnson BJ, O'Connell S, Shapiro ED, Steere AC, Wormser GP. Ad Hoc International Lyme Disease Group. A critical appraisal of "chronic Lyme disease." N Engl J Med. 2007;357:1422-1430.

Halperin JJ, Shapiro ED, Logigian E, Belman AL, Dotevall L, Wormser GP, et al. Practice parameter: treatment of nervous system Lyme disease (an evidence-based review): report of the Quality Standards Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology. Neurology. 2007;69:91-102.

Wormser GP, Dattwyler RJ, Shapiro ED, Halperin JJ, Steere AC, Klempner MS, et al. The clinical assessment, treatment, and prevention of Lyme disease, human granulocytic anaplasmosis, and babesiosis: clinical practice guidelines by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Clin Infect Dis. 2006;43:1089-1134.