Ticks are nasty parasitic creatures. Not only do they ambush you and latch on with their mandibles, but they can quickly pass terrible diseases on to you as well. The Center for Disease Control (CDC), which monitors and prepares for outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics, has a standing plea to prepare for and prevent tick bites.
Lyme disease is on their radar, and they want us to avoid contracting it and possibly even spreading it to our children. In this post we will break down the different diseases ticks carry, how to remove a tick, and the multiple ways you can prevent a tick bite in the first place.
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Diseases Ticks Can Infect You With
There are many threatening diseases out there and plenty of animals and insects can carry them as a host. When an organism carries a disease it is called a ‘disease vector’. Ticks are very dangerous disease vectors because of how hard they are to detect and prevent. A few diseases that ticks can transmit include:
- Lyme Disease
- Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
- Southern Tick Rash
- Tularemia
- Babesiosis
- Human Ganulocytic Anaplasmosis (HGA)
The full list goes on and on, and learning to identify symptoms of the worst ones can help you prepare for an encounter with one. Lyme disease tops this list as it is a hard one to diagnose, but can debilitate you for the rest of your life and even be passed on to your children before they are born. Many people diagnosed with Lyme disease also have HGA and babesiosis transmitted by the tick, which can even further complicate diagnosis and treatment.
Tick Habitats
Ticks relish areas that are heavily wooded, have tall grass, or plenty of ground brush. When you go outside camping, hiking, gardening, or hunting- you are probably in their backyard. If you venture into these areas, you need to know how to protect yourself, treat your clothing, and remove ticks if you spot them.
Wearing white or other light colors can help you spot ticks more quickly, so you can brush them off before they bite. There is a wives’ tale that says these colors make ticks less likely to jump on you- but that has been disproven in studies.
Keeping Ticks Away from Home
Keeping brush and grass low is one of the best ways to keep ticks out of your yard. You’ll also want to control small animals (rodents) and treat animals (dogs/cats) to prevent ticks from migrating in. Larger wild animals can be huge tick carriers for ticks, so be aware of any that frequent your yard.
Keep Deer Away
Deer and ticks happen to run in the same circles. They enjoy the same habitat, and a tick is more than happy to make a deer its own habitat. One easy way to reduce your chance of encountering ticks is by avoiding deer. Deer are the preferred host of the formidable deer tick or black-legged tick.
Deer ticks are the main vector for Lyme disease in the US. Since deer are the main prey of a deer tick, staying clear of deer can reduce your chances of being bitten by a deer tick and subsequent Lyme disease infection.
Tick Tubes
Dealing with medium-sized rodents can be done with a variety of traps, but they may not be legal in your state so check beforehand. A convenient method I use to keep ticks off squirrels is the tried-and-true tick tube.
You can buy premade, but they are very easy to make if you have some extra permethrin. The rodents grab the treated cotton to nest in which kills any ticks attached to them.
We made a write-up showing how to make your own: How to Make Homemade Tick Tubes.
Permethrin for Clothing & Gear
We used it in the military, and it is pretty powerful stuff to treat your clothes, shoes, and equipment. It’s easy to use and apply, and it just takes a little forethought so you can have enough time for it to dry. Once you apply it to your clothing, it works as a great insect repellent and can be the first part of your defense against ticks.
I use Sawyer Permethrin, which has been strong and effective on my clothes and gear.
Picaridin vs. DEET
DEET is the well-known mosquito and tick repellent main ingredient. It’s been proven to work well and is the most common active ingredient in off-the-shelf insect repellents. DEET stands for N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide so we are pretty lucky it condenses down to an easy-to-remember acronym. DEET has been proven by studies to be generally safe to use, although many are wary of it due to its potency towards insects. People are so wary in fact that one of the most searched terms on Google for DEET is “Can you get cancer from DEET?” The answer is complicated, in that studies have not provided enough evidence to say whether it does or does not cause cancer.
Picaridin (also known as icaridin) has been shown in studies to be just as effective as DEET in repelling most insects. Picaridin has the benefit of being odorless and not greasy like DEET repellents can be. Only a limited number of repellents use picardin, and they typically cost a little bit more. Unfortunately, studies do show that DEET is slightly more effective at preventing tick bites.
Any slight effectiveness could make the difference in getting a tick bite, so DEET wins out the comparison for ticks despite its drawbacks. 30% DEET content is recommended for repelling ticks.
We have a review detailing the best mosquito spray for survival kits, and the same spray works well for ticks: Best Mosquito Spray According to Science.
Removing Ticks
It seems like I’ve heard of a million ways to remove a tick. Don’t listen to every method and wives’ tale, since some can leave the head attached, give you a higher risk of infection, or even hurt you more than the tick would. They make tools that you can use for tick removal:
- Tick Key – The original dedicated tick removal device, many people swear by this one and it does work better than your fingers or tweezers.
- Tick Twister – I find this one easier to use (plus it’s cheaper). Since it doesn’t collar the ticks, it works on a wide size range for different types and maturity.
Besides these tools, tweezers or some other method of getting a skinny, sturdy material between the head and your skin is the best method.
Just pinching and pulling the body of the tick can often pop off the tick’s head and leave it attached to your skin. Squeezing the tick itself can increase the risk of infection, so try to pry or twist the tick off without squeezing it- especially the abdomen.
After you remove a tick, you’ll want to watch for any red flags that may indicate that you picked up a disease from the tick. Those red flags could include fever, rash, and odd behavior. The Tick Bite Questionnaire can help you determine what you need to do if you have any bite symptoms after removal.
Tick Bite Questionnaire
The CDC doesn’t mince words when it comes to ticks and mosquitoes. They would eliminate parasite vectors if they could, but currently, they have to rely on just asking us to protect ourselves. That doesn’t mean they aren’t trying though; there is current research into genetically engineered mosquitoes that kill their own kind. This could help combat dengue fever and malaria but poses its own risks in the unknown long-term effects of genetic modification.
They’ve also developed a nice questionnaire that can guide you on what to do with a new bite and specific symptoms:
The Final Word
If a tick passes Lyme disease to you or someone in your family, it can become a nightmare. Identifying the conditions and symptoms and treating the disease can be extremely difficult. The best way to avoid all of this is to be smart and heed the CDC’s warning about protecting yourself. Prevention is paramount when it comes to tick bites, so make sure you prepare before you head into the woods.
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Keep exploring, stay prepared, and be safe.
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