5 Tips to Prevent Tick Bites and Getting Lyme Disease | Johns Hopkins Medicine

Each year, roughly 300,000 cases of Lyme Disease are reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; it is estimated that this represents a small portion of actual cases of the Disease. Methods of diagnosis and treatment have been, for the most part, inadequate at speaking to the complex needs of these patients. In this video Dr. John Aucott with the Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Research Center will share five tips to prevent tick bites and getting Lyme Disease.

They are:

⦿ Create a tick-free zone around your house
⦿ Enjoy the outdoors safely
⦿ Protect yourself, your children, and your pets by wearing protective clothing treated with tick pesticides and treating your skin with insect repellent
⦿ Perform tick checks after coming in from the out of doors and showering
⦿ Remove ticks once found immediately by grasping them with a tweezer and pulling them off of the skin

Visit the links below to read additional information on preventing Lyme Disease, as well as what you should do after you get a tick bite.

[PickleAllergy]

One of those little buggers got me 2 yrs ago. Left me with the gifts of Synkinesis, joint pain, floaters in my eyes, hearing issues, intermittent memory issues, intermittent double vision, dry eye and over sensitivity to noise. Protect yourself people, seriously.\

[ricklynch]

I had a tick bite in 2009. I contracted ehrlickiosis (sp?) and it just about killed me. Thought I had the flu but an old doctor in a walk in clinic told my wife to take me to the ER immediately. Probably saved my life. Woke up 5 days later in the intensive care unit. Organs were shutting down. 17 people in TN got that disease that year. 7 died. I fully recovered. Was very lucky. I use permethrin on shoes and boots now. Screw environmentalists who say that’s not the right thing to do….talk to me after you’ve almost died from a tick bite…..

[stevelipprandt]

If you have a tick problem on your lawn just sprinkle crushed egg shells on your lawn. birds love egg shells its where they get there calcium. once a bird finds egg shells on your lawn he will keep coming back. while hes looking for egg shells he finds ants to eat... ticks... beetles..
The other birds see him foraging on your lawn and they go down there and eat too.

[CarolAnneChapman]

Very helpful advice. I wish I knew this before I got Lyme disease. Thanks.

[williambradfordbaldwin]

Ticks can get inside a pant leg and crawl to parts unknown, believe me I know! :) And they can be found in short grass as well. Once they fall off the animal after being engorged they can be anywhere including inside your house, if you have dogs be especially alert!

[njgrplr]

In the Spring, nymph stage ticks get dropped in the leaf litter and will usually look to attach to mice or chipmunks. It's at that time when black legged/deer ticks usually ingest Lyme's disease. So it is very important to spray your shoes with permethrin at that time as well.

[williambradfordbaldwin]

Thank you for a very thorough covering of topics on this subject! I try to educate anyone I come in contact with about ticks and how to avoid and learn and deal with them. I hand out Tick ID cards from the NYS Health Dept., and show them my tick removal tool and where to get them! Thanks again!

[jixxxxer]

Ticks have gotten so bad in rural Ma. I had a tick on me in February, yes February, we had a warm day and the ticks were already out. I recently had 3 ticks dug into my skin in less than 3 days. What I have found to work pretty good is wearing knee high, full rubber boots with my pants tucked inside the boots, then I spray Deep woods off on the outer boots. this works pretty good, the boots are hot and uncomfortable but they do work pretty good. I hope this helps someone. Peace !

[bibigreen]

"When you're hiking, stay on the path." Well that's not hiking in my book.

[QueenBee-igtp]

I live in Canada and we dont have the lotions described here, I have had 3 separate ticks in the last 3mths. I have gardened over 30yrs and never before had this problem. I didnt feel the bite and since I never had one before didnt do any checking it was only when I felt the pain and got to looking I found the tick. My granddaughter pulled it out and we went to the pharmacy and she gave me 2 pills to take right away. So far this time it is 4 days ago and the pain and redness is still there.

[bsmith]

What is an "acceptable" titre level? I have Lyme disease, but the Veterans Affairs medical center says that it is an "acceptable" level. As far as I'm concerned, that's like being a little bit pregnant. Or "a little bit dead". Thank you for your anticipated response Dr.

[thesmallwoodlot]

This doctor know about the taught science of ticks, not about actually dealing with them! While some of his information is correct, a lot if information is either left out or mis represented, for instance tick don’t just live in grass, they also are in trees, and when a host (person / animal) is near they can drop and direct their fall, ticks can also jump a fair distance as well. While the material of his pants were good, the color was not & there should be some way to gather the lower hemmed area with a boot band especially when hiking. Light colors, and a “shade hat” with a brim large enough to shade your neck is great!

Remember that you are out in nature, not putting on a fashion show ! Be comfortable, but be smarter then the ticks layer clothing is a good idea to prevent tick from reaching your skin, material choice is just as important. Think of how you dress in winter, but instead of insulation layers, barrier layers!

Starting at your head outer layers should overlap seams in under layers for instance, a light colored tee shirt should be tucked in at the waste, pants should be worn with a belt and boot bands, a light weight and light colored over shirt should be worn over your tee shirt, but not tucked into your pants, the cap your self off with a hat the can shield your neck, shoulders, and face!
Dusting the lower 6 inches of pants with lye deters ticks and fleas also!

[alkhashtee]

Thank you very much doctor for your valuable advice.

[markpiersall]

Ticks have a life cycle which typically includes small warm blooded mammals which also act as reservoir for disease. Install Barn Owl nest boxes. The Idaho Extension has a plan to build two out of a sheet of exterior plywood. Place them 8 feet high and have the entry face away from prevailing Winter wind. Make the opening oval, no more than 4x5 inches.

[walfredcarlson]

Great advice thanks....but..I found that many people that use Tweezers will most likely grab the tick incorrectly by its body, and therefore squeeze fluids from the tick into your bloodstream. A safer better method is a thin metal tool with a v notched end that you slide along your skin to get the tick at the skin surface and "pry" it off with a lever motion. Not sure if you or anyone is aware of this tool.

[robertsullivan]

i have removed a lot of ticks, but i use a tool designed to remove them called a tick fork, used properly it quickly removes the body before the tick can regurgitate its fluid back into the host, other methods allows this to happen. . ( i am not a doctor just a outdoors man)

[HarpsichordHymnsTimRemington]

Very helpful information. Thank you for sharing it!

[src]

Its November in southeast Georgia and I had a tick on my car seat after setting my backpack on it after my hike. It must have gotten onto the bag when I set it down on the ground.

[mamashanshan]

I have CLD, odd how some specialists basically think ticks know the borders!! I’ve had 14 ticks, growing up hiking & with all, and I live in Idaho, I’ve been bashed by many doctors, dropped. I absolutely don’t know why docs think this disease cannot be spread with deer, mice, I suppose they know how to read borders also!!

[WhoThisMonkey]

Very well constructed video, very professional.

I gained useful information from this video, for that, you have my thanks.