Memorial Day Weekend Tick Awareness
Memorial Day Week is upon us and it’s finally feeling a little bit like sum-… we won’t say it out loud and jinx it. We’re just as happy as you are to feel the sunshine and get ready for a long holiday weekend. With that though, comes backyard BBQ’s and outdoor adventures, so it’s only right that we share this as we head outside and Lyme Disease Awareness Month comes to a close.
We have to remind you that with rising temperatures coincides tick-borne illness. We’re strong believers in that “prevention is better than a cure,” and that a PROACTIVE approach with tick safety is the only way to do it.
Here are 10 tips to embrace to decrease the risk of contracting a tick-related illness.
Remember, ticks can be found anywhere. It’s important to use repellent when going outdoors and to check for ticks often.
• Keep pets confined to your landscaped lawn and never allow them to enter the woods or woods edge.
• If you stopped your pet’s tick prevention over the winter, get it started again NOW.
• Implement a professional rodent control program around your home to reduce the number of ticks on your property.
• Remind kids of the dangers of going into the woods and uncharted territory. Teach them how to check themselves, too.
• Keep a tick removal kit ready so you are well-prepared if you do come across an embedded tick.
• Keep your grass cut short and don’t over-water your plants and shrubs. Ticks are attracted to long grass and cool damp areas.
• Ivy and other sorts of ground cover are tick hot spots and should be avoided.
• As part of your spring yard clean-up, eliminate tick habitats by raking and removing leaves that may have blown into yard edges and under shady vegetation.
• Spray monthly from April through October to control populations on your property.
For those who may not know, the transmission of Lyme disease is most commonly a result of bites by immature ticks called nymphs. The nymphs are less than 2 mm in size, comparable to a poppy seed, are incredibly difficult to see and the bites are painless. In addition to their small size, they typically attach to hard-to-see areas of the body such as the groin, armpits & scalp. As a result, bite victims contract Lyme disease – an acute inflammatory bacterial infection nicknamed “The Great Imitator” because symptoms are similar to many other diseases affecting all organs of the body, including the brain and nervous system, joints and muscles, and heart.
